


Batten down the Hatches

by littlemissrose



Series: Benedict Ormond Holmes [3]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Not SPECTRE Compliant, Q (James Bond) is a Holmes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:35:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 34,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemissrose/pseuds/littlemissrose
Summary: With Q removed from his position the enemy that has entrenched itself in government is in the perfect position to strike. Mycroft, Q and MI6 will have to give their all to keep everyone safe.
Series: Benedict Ormond Holmes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680085
Comments: 143
Kudos: 91





	1. Brave new world

It was quiet in the room. Iris sat behind her computer and let out her millionth sigh of the day. And she’d only been there for like half an hour. Andy and Jordan were looking just as downtrodden as she was. Without Ophelia and Justin, the room just felt empty. How the heck were they going to keep the agency running with only the three of them and without Q.

Yesterday there had been an uproar in the hive. The news that Q had been relieved of duty had hit hard and spread like wildfire through the building. Having known what was going to happen the news only caused a wave of sadness with them. But the rest of the building looked like it was going into an all-out strike. It became so bad Moneypenny called M out of a meeting with the PM to calm them down.

Ophelia and Sadler came into the room, startling Iris out of her thoughts. Q had spent his last day at work with the two of them. Coaching them, teaching what they needed to know to run the department. It had been a bit distracting because what Q had to say was really interesting. Ophelia and Sadler seemed to think so too because the next day when she came in, they were still going strong. Right up until the moment Q had to leave for the hearing.

Hope sprang up when she saw that their faces were oozing with determination. It looked like they had just come out of a meeting and had come up with a plan. Iris stood and approached them.

“So, what’s the plan, bosses?” She asked jokingly as Andy and Jordan joined her.

Ophelia actually twitched when she said that and if Iris hadn’t been so sad today, she would’ve laughed. Ophelia clearly wasn’t used yet to being in charge of them, which was ridiculous because she had always taken charge when Q wasn’t there. Now was no different.

“Well.” She started, clearly uncomfortable. “We’ve had a chat with R…”

“Don’t you mean Q?” Jordan interrupted her with a frown.

“No.” Sadler said. “She has requested we call her R. R will keep her current role in the department and will only temporary take on the tasks Q used to perform, until a new Q can be found.” The words ‘or the old Q can be reinstated’ were not uttered but everyone heard them.

“Anyway, we’ve had a chat with her and have come up with a game plan for the coming time.” Ophelia continued.

“We all know it’s going to be a rough few weeks, or however long this is going to last.” Sadler said. “The only way to get through this is together. At the moment we are far understaffed as you know. Beside you we’ve got Bruce, Darnell and Ormond on the night crew. That means efficiency is going to be key.” Ormond was on the night crew. Iris’s breath caught in her throat. _Ormond_ was on the night crew. He hadn’t left them. She smiled. That devious bastard. That was what Q had meant when he said he wouldn’t leave them alone.

“We’ve decided that because the workload is so high, we’re going to split you up into three shifts.” Iris frowned. That was an odd choice.

“Were understaffed as it is.” She said with a frown “Why thin ourselves out even more?”

“So, we don’t burn ourselves out.” Ophelia answered. “We can’t lose any more people due to sickness. So, taking care of you is going to take extra priority. If you all take 9-hour shifts instead of 12-hour long ones, we can all see the sunlight every now and then and enjoy a little free time. It will help you stay healthy.” Okay, Iris could see the benefit of that.

“We’re also going to be setting up some activities outside the branch. A bit of bonding so to speak.” Ophelia continued. Iris cringed. The idea sounded so very much like some horrible happy cuddle course that she had had to attend. God, she hoped this wasn’t Sadler’s idea of making amends to them.

“The activities are voluntary, but we highly encourage you participate in them. It will be good for all of us.” Sadler said. He sounded convinced that this was actually a good idea. Iris wanted to sigh for the million and many-eth time today. She was so not looking forward to that. 

“If you say so.” Andy sounded as sceptical as she felt. “I’ll come to the first one. But if I feel that I’m just wasting my time, I’ll go home.” Now Iris did sigh. That actually didn’t sound unreasonable. She could give it a shot. If only to make life for Ophelia easier.

“I’ll come too.” She said reluctantly. Ophelia smiled.

“You won’t regret it, I promise.” She said.

* * *

That week went by fast. Sadler and Ophelia had been right. Work had piled up, now that there were only two of them, plus one of the bosses on shift at a time. She worked at a furious pace for those 9 hours that she was on shift and was glad that she could go home after. It had been decided that she would take her shift with Darnell, who was a decent bloke and a hard worker, but not really much of a talker. It made him perfect for the night shift because those guys were all a bit quiet. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind that she liked to talk, so she chatted his ears off as they worked. Usually, Ophelia or George, as he asked them to call him, joined them at a computer. Sometimes they even pulled out their laptops and sat in a circle at one of the desks so they could talk about the work. It was nice to work like a team again.

Now they were on their way to their first team building event. Sadly, Andy and Jordan were on duty with Ophelia at the moment. But Darnell, Bruce and George were with her along with a whole bunch of R’s people. Ormond had apparently decided to skip this day sadly. She would've liked to talk to him. But she knew he was probably busy still with all the things going on.

She looked out the window of the small bus R had hired for the event. London was grey and busy as always but for some reason they hadn’t had a single red traffic light. Which was rather odd come to think of it? Almost like someone was pulling strings. Iris’s thoughts immediately turned to Q. That would be something he would do.

The bus pulled up at a large building that looked like a typical production company in an industrial area in the city. They all got off and walked towards the double doors, above which the name Radius Solutions Company was proudly displayed in brand new lettering. The front hall was grand and easily had enough space to hold all of them. The decorations looked like they had been copied out of a magazine for interior office design. There was an open stairwell, with a modern chandelier hanging down it, a sitting area for guests beneath it and a reception area that was occupied at the moment by a very familiar face.

“Rose.” She heard Darnell and Bruce cry out happily. They dashed around the desk and hugged her. Iris walked up to her too, but got distracted by a blue mohawk that had appeared in the corner of her eye. Immediately she veered off.

“Justin.” She hugged him to her, hard, not caring that he’d stiffened at the amount of contact. She just needed to reassure herself that he was really there.

“Hey Iris.” Justin said, sounding a little uncomfortable. She let go of him and took a step back to really look at him. There were the remainder of bruises on his face but they looked like they were healing well.

“Are you okay?” She asked, worried for hidden injuries.

“Just bruises.” Justin smiled at her. “My ribs were a mighty sore for a while.” Iris startled. She hoped she hadn’t made anything worse with her hug. “But they’re fine now.” Justin quickly reassured her.

“God, I was worried. I’m so glad you’re okay.” She felt like crying in relief. Everything had looked so bleak lately. With Q gone and the rest of them just waiting for the events he had warned them about to unfold. Now there was a bit of sunlight on the horizon again.

“Ladies and Gentleman, if I can have your attention for a moment.” A familiar voice said. It made her heart jump for joy. She turned to the stairs and her mouth fell open as she saw her former boss standing there in a suit that wouldn’t look out of place in the wardrobe of a double-0.

“Welcome to the new Q-branch emergency headquarters.” Q said.


	2. Welcome and Goodbye

It wasn’t that Gareth was jealous. Not at all. But there was a difference between not being in the limelight and not being seen at all. Because he was standing beside Q and no one, not one of his employees had noticed him.

There was a time when not being noticed was a good thing. A special forces operator had to know when to go unnoticed. When to blend in. But he had left that world long ago. And in politics, not being noticed was a bad thing. Yet here he was, not being noticed. Beside the man who had turned invisibility into an art form.

He wasn’t worried for his position either. Because Q would never consider switching to politics. There wasn’t a political bone in the man’s body. The nickname general had been spread through the agency and the man had lived up to it like no one else could. Even now he looked like a general about to address his troops.

What concerned him though, was the adoration in the eyes of the people before him. They were clearly not his people. They were Q’s. And that was a problem. Loyalty was essential in the world of spies, where betrayal lay around every corner. If Q were to suddenly make a move away from MI6, these people would no doubt follow him out the door. Not that Q would make such a move, but the concern was still there.

Q though, looked a bit startled with the attention he was getting. And then a concerned look grew on his face. He glanced sideways at him, as if to check on something. And then, with an apologetic look, actually stepped back, yielding the floor to him. Gareth glanced at Q, utterly confused. This was not what they had agreed on. They had agreed that Q would do the talking and he was there to confirm that this was with his approval.

But suddenly he realized what opportunity Q had given him. What Q was saying with this gesture. And he stepped forward to address his people.

“Radius Solutions Company will also be the new cover for all Q-branch employees. The company itself is an actual business with this facility supposedly being an overflow of the main branch. It therefor won’t be odd that there is an irregularity of people showing up. Radius is part of Bamford Security Solutions, a company some of you might be familiar with. They do home security for a lot of big names and a lot of our people have hired them. Radius does specialized projects for Bamford’s high-end clientele, like car modifications and custom surveillance equipment. Therefor your work here won’t look out of place with what the company normally does.” He told the people before him, who looked at him with interest. He suppressed a sigh of relief that Q’s plan seemed to be working.

“You will still work in Q-branch but sometimes will be asked to spend some time here. As you know we’ve gone from a two-shift to a three-shift system. This wasn’t only done to give you all some spare time. It is our intention to ask you all to work some extra shifts here to make it look like the building is occupied and to prepare it for immediate commissioning should the need arise. Q will be in charge of this facility and R will be in charge of the branch. Now before you all get your hopes up, Q is _not_ back as quartermaster.” The crowd groaned so loudly in disappointment it was almost comical and he had to fight to keep a straight face. “But his name is still very much classified and for expediency sake we have agreed that he will still use his former designation. If you have any issues pertaining your work your first port of call will still be the same, first your department head and then R.” He saw a lot of disappointed faces in the crowd but they seemed to reluctantly understand the point he was pressing home.

“Now then, I’ll let you get on with the tour. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.” There was polite clapping as he descended the final steps and they parted to let him through, Moneypenny in tow. As he sat in the back of the car on his way back to HQ he let out a sigh of relief. Q-branch was still his. They were still his people. Even though he had to share them.

* * *

Jordan landed on his ass and mentally kicked himself for losing focus yet again. They had started training again only a couple of days ago. He got to relax for a few days after his gruelling run with the gauntlet. Agents always needed to decompress after a mission, 001 had said. He hadn’t had that chance after his mission with 007 but that hadn’t been half as intense as this had been.

"Up." His master prodded him with her toe when he took a second too long to get up. Suppressing the sigh, groan and curse he wanted to let out he got to his feet again. He was exhausted. Decompressing was difficult, he’d learned. The first few nights after waking up in medical, he had been plagued by nightmares of the final problem and dreams of intense coding sessions from which he woke mumbling and sweating.

It had helped enormously to know that it had all been staged. That the girl hadn’t really died. Still the intensity of that scene returned to him at the oddest moments. The nightmares had lessened thankfully but his adrenaline seemed to spike at different times for no apparent reason, causing him to tense up. He had asked his master about it. She told him it was natural and with enough rest it would go away. Regularity in his day would also help and she had started up training again. It was just as intense as before. His bruises seemed permanent at this point. But the regular work-out helped him sleep better because he was exhausted when he came home. 

He sidestepped, his master narrowly missing him. He grinned, elated. She had made that move at least a hundred times now, and he'd never had managed to avoid it before, always ending up in some hold. 

"Don't stop" His master scolded him and tackled him to the floor as punishment. Jordan got up again, mentally berating himself for making such a mistake. He didn't say it out loud. She had gotten rid of that habit on the first day in Dagobah, as he called the place where he'd gotten his basic field training. She kept poking him in the side hard, either with her elbow, fist or stick, every time he said it. 

"I want mental ranting as much as I want apologies. Don't make excuses, just do better." 001 attacked again and Jordan did his best to evade the move he had finally conquered a minute ago but she moved faster this time and he ended up in a hold again. He squirmed and fought to get out of it. His master was intense today. Normally she joked and laughed as they sparred, usually at his expense. Today there were only remarks. She was also a lot tougher today than she had been the previous days. He wondered if something was wrong. 

"Come on. I know you can get out of this." She shouted. Jordan went limp in surprise. His master had actually shouted at him. She had never shouted at him before. And apparently wasn't above taking advantage of his surprise because she moved her hands around his head as if to snap his neck.

"You're dead." She said and let go of him.

Jordan rolled to his feet but his master made no move to get up. Apparently training for today. Jordan sighed and relaxed.

"You're doing it again." She said and took his feet out from under him, landing him on his ass for what he hoped was the final time tonight. He wanted to bang his head against the mat in frustration. He had the learned that relaxing before she gave permission led to pain weeks ago.

"What's wrong with you today?" His master asked. "You're making more and more mistakes." She looked tired as she said it. It made the alarm bells ring that much louder.

"Something is wrong with you, master and it's distracting me." He replied. She looked at him intensely.

"That's today's lesson then. Never let your thoughts distract you when you're fighting. It will get you killed, padawan." She said, for once not bothering with the Yoda voice. He nodded. Clearly, she was right as she had just killed him in practice. He waited patiently for her to say more. However, she just kept looking at him in silence.

“What's wrong?” He asked. 

“I’ve got a mission. I’m leaving tonight.” She answered and Jordan’s heart missed a beat. The thought of not training after work left him feeling empty. It surprised him how quickly he had become used to her presence in his life. To have her go away made him feel a bit lost. He didn’t want her to go. He didn’t want her to stop training him. That was in itself a bit of an eye opener. Since when did he enjoy training that much?

Was that a sign that he was truly committed to being an agent? That he would leave Q-branch behind him?

“Hey.” His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He tensed, his mind going in three different directions on how to respond. A part of him wanted to grab the hand and try to pin 001 in a few moves they had been practicing. A part of him jumped at being caught off guard and a part wanted to take comfort in that hand.

“You’re going to be fine, Jordan.” 001 continued as if she hadn’t noticed him tensing.

“Yeah?” Jordan asked.

“Agents mostly work alone.” She lectured. “It’s why self-motivation is a large part of basic training. You already had that so we didn’t focus on that too much. It now comes into play. It’s up to you to keep practicing. To keep up your skills and learn as much as you can. There are a lot more people you can learn from beside me. Use them.”

“Is that why I could finish basic training in a week?” Jordan asked her.

“Almost everyone who enters basic training has a military background.” 001 explained sliding back to lean against one of the boxing ring corners. Jordan sat beside her leaning against the rope. “The military trains people to listen to their commanding officer who then drives his soldiers to do what he wants. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s a group effort and that’s what makes it so powerful. However, it doesn’t teach you to think for yourself or how to keep going if you haven’t got someone shouting at you to get a move on. Intrinsic motivation is hard to learn. It takes up 90% of basic training.”

“Oh.” Jordan sighed. Well that made sense. He had never really had an issue with motivation. With his mother’s MS there wasn’t a lot of time to do what he wanted to do and he had learned to use the time he had wisely. It had made him stand out amongst his former classmates who in his opinion were a bunch of lazy shits.

I need to go get ready. R has some new goodies for me." 001 said as she got up, before pinning him down with her stare. "And when I get back, I want to know what you’ve done and if your skills have dropped on any level in any area, I will be sorely disappointed.” She said strictly but there was a hint of a smile on her face before she turned and walked towards the exit. 

"Good luck." He called after her. She looked over her shoulder at him with a look that made him gulp. He knew his master was well versed in seduction techniques but hadn't actually seen her turn on the charm.

"Luck is for the unskilled, sugar." She replied. 

"Happy hunting then." He said and she waved over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

Jordan grinned. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish what she had challenged him to do. But he was sure he would manage somehow. He just had to keep working until he did.


	3. Getting better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,
> 
> Would love for you to join me while I write these chapters. 
> 
> twitch.tv/littlemissrose85
> 
> I stream on twitch every night from 20.00 CET. Would love to chat with you all about reading and writing fanfic.

2 weeks later Jordan was back in the gym. He’d been coming here every day since she left. Keeping up with his fitness, improving slowly. Right now, he was doing interval training with a punching bag, going all out for 5 minutes before easing off. He’d already added a minute since she left and felt very proud of himself for that.

His confidence had taken a bit of a dive on his first day training alone. He felt like a right idiot the first time he was punching that bag by himself. What was he doing here? Was he even allowed to be here without one of the double-0’s accompanying him? His discomfort had been so bad it had caused him to tense up, slowing his movements, frustrating him even more. 

After that disastrous training session, he’d had a good think and a little talk to himself. Telling himself that he was being sentimental and that he couldn’t afford to be. He needed to train and the double-0 gym was the most secure place to do that. None of the double-0’s were currently in the country, except for 007 but no one had heard from him since the hearing. So, the gym was unused. Why the hell wouldn’t he use it. The training session after his little pep talk went much better.

After a couple of days getting used to pushing himself, he decided he needed to do more with the other suggestion 001 had given him. Training was all good and well but, if he was truly serious about becoming an agent, he needed to do more. The thoughts about what he wanted to do crept into his mind every now and then, but he was still no closer to an answer. He did know he wanted to finish his training, become a fully fletched agent. Whether he would do it full time or part time or in another form altogether he still had doubts about. That was a decision for later. For now, he had skills to develop.

He had a bit of a think before approaching his next teacher. There was so much Q could teach him that he hadn’t known where to start. Q was a far better hacker than he was for one. But this wasn’t about improving as a Q-branch employee. This was about becoming a better agent. And Q could contribute on that front as well.

Jordan stopped punching the bag as his timer went off and walked around the gym getting his breath back, gulping down some water. Q had grinned when he came to him and asked for undercover training. He hadn’t seen his home that day. Q had launched immediately into a lecture on the finer points of going unnoticed, how not to stand out. After, Q had called for a car and had taken him to a seemingly abandoned factory building where he met the most interesting character. He had spent a few days with the Wig, as the man had asked to be called, and learned a lot about changing his appearance. It had been exhausting keeping up work and training and learning lessons. But he was enjoying the challenge.

Another timer went off and Jordan returned to the bag. 5 minutes. He only had to last another 5 minutes. Then he could go home and get some much-needed sleep. He alternated his focus on his footwork, his technique and his strength. He just had hold on for a little longer.

“Who the fuck are you?” Jordan heard behind him. He ignored it, too concentrated on pushing himself to kill the punching bag in the 90 seconds he had left. He was almost there. He wasn’t going to stop now.

Maybe not the brightest idea he’d had though.

“I asked you a question.” The voice growled and a large hand descended on his shoulder. Jordan twisted out of it.

“If you’d just let me finish.” He argued absentmindedly. There was only a minute to go after all.

A minute too long apparently.

He was grabbed from behind in a simple hold. One 001 had used extensively in training. And she hadn’t held back on her strength. The first time she’d used it, and the second and third for that matter, he had been in that hold for well over 10 minutes trying to break it. It had taken him two weeks before he could do it flawlessly. But now he definitely could.

He broke out and twisted, falling into a stance, finally facing his opponent. The man was old for an agent. Maybe as old as 003. The grey in his hair gave him a distinguished look. The silver fox he believed the ladies called it. The man hadn’t changed out of his suit, which was slightly battered as if he’d been in a fight recently. Realisation dawned and, in his head, he quickly went over the schedule R had discussed with him. She had outfitted the outgoing agents with a simple Pez-dispenser which contained no less than a dozen earpieces and dispensed them without needing to touch the others. None of the double-0’s had used them yet but that only meant they had yet to run into trouble. R still had taken him through the mission briefings, just in case that one of them checked in in an emergency. Only one agent was scheduled to come back in.

0010 was fresh off the plane and, more importantly, still very much on a mission high. The relaxed posture screamed at Jordan that he was about to be killed. He gulped. He was screwed.

“Welcome back, 0010.” He said calmly, dropping into his stance more, relaxing as much as possible.

The man studied him. Eyes raking over his frame. Finding every weakness that he could explore. Jordan imagined he found hundreds. Still he didn’t move, didn’t stand down. 001 had always punished him if he stood down before she did. “Never drop your guard.” She had told him so many times as she punished him by putting him in some hold he then had break out of. He had learned his lesson by now. Only if the other agent let him, would he truly be safe to drop his guard.

“I was going to use the punching bag to relieve some tension. However, I think I found a more suitable endeavour.” The man sounded like a tiger stalking its prey. Jordan felt a shiver run down his spine.

“As long as I don’t end up in medical, I’m game.” He answered going for bold knowing the agent wouldn't expect it. “I’m sure there’s much I can learn from you.” This was one opportunity he wasn’t going to waste. Even if he knew he was going to hurt for a long time. But that nothing new.

0010 raised his eyebrows in surprise, clearly having expected Jordan to run. The man studied him again, before turning and walking up to the ring.

“If you want to have your ass handed to you that badly, I can certainly oblige.” The agent said grumpily as he ascended the stairs and waited for his victim to make his move. Determined not to make a fool of himself, Jordan entered the ring. 0010’s eyebrows rose again.

“You've got guts, I'll give you that. I thought you’d be out the door the moment the path was clear. Clearly you have no sense of self-preservation.” The dry and sarcastic tone clearly showed what the other agent thought of him.

“I know very well what I’m getting myself into.” Jordan replied. “My bruises have disappeared. It’s rather odd not to have them these days. But they all went on missions and I had no one to train with. So, I would really appreciate it if you could put me through my paces, sir.” He hoped he sounded far more confident than he felt. Because this agent was still switched on. He could kill him easily if triggered.

0010 started circling him, trying to find an opening. Jordan moved with him, facing the agent head on.

“The other’s trained you?” The agent asked before making a move. It was slow, well-choreographed and Jordan could easily avoid it.

“001 did.” He answered shortly. He could’ve said a lot more, but he realized this was part of the game. And Jordan was going to play it to the best of his abilities. If the agent wanted to know more, he would have to ask for it.

“Why?” Was the next question. And the game was on. The questions always accompanied a move. Slowly the pace and the difficulty level were going up. Jordan was enjoying it immensely. 0010 was good. Very good. It took far longer than he predicted to hit the floor the first time. But the number of times he went down rose dramatically after. Always the agent told him what he’d done wrong. And put him down again and again until he got it right. It only made him smile more.

After they’d been at it for a good two hours, a voice echoed through the room. “If you’d kindly cut your session short, 0010, I believe miss Moneypenny is looking for you. You’ve missed your scheduled appointment with M. And Jordan has an appointment with me in 5 hours. It’s time for him to get some rest.”

0010 had frozen as soon as he heard the voice and Jordan, who had been halfway through a move, froze with him not wanting to trigger anything. As Q went on to explain why he’d interrupted, the agent relaxed and let him go. Jordan stepped back and groaned when he heard that sleep would once again be short tonight.

“Thank you, Q.” He said.

“Hmmm.” 0010 grunted dismissively. “Not bad.” And with that grouchy comment left the room, leaving behind a very tired but glowing junior agent.


	4. The bomb drops

“They’ve made their move.” Mycroft’s voice carried a tornado of rage. Q sat up in bed, put the phone on speaker and started to dress. By the sound of it the news was far worse than they could’ve imagined. Luckily he had prepared, laying down contingency plans for everything, ranging from a minor incident right up to worst case scenario. R had thought he was being a paranoid bastard when he had kept presenting her with plan after plan. Luckily she had approved them all, though some while crossing her fingers hoping they wouldn't be necessary. The paranoia had been fuelled by Mycroft's lack of progress which had frustrated Q mightily. He had gotten into several arguments with his brother which had always ended with Mycroft lecturing him on the need for patience. Well, it seemed patience was no longer necessary.

“What is it?” He asked.

“It’s not what, it’s who.” Mycroft answered. “I’ve sent you his file.” Q was amazed that the anger seemed to have been caused by one person. Mycroft must be seriously worried about him. Or there was something else going on. He pulled his laptop out of his bag and pulled up the file as soon as it was up and running. The picture on top made him freeze.

“Mycroft, tell me you’re joking.” He breathed harshly.

“Unfortunately, meet Max Denbigh, small time player. I never met him personally but that shouldn’t come as a surprise.” No it didn’t, seeing as Denbigh's picture was identical to the former consulting criminal. Q groaned. It had been a long three weeks. The only highlight had been Jordan's eagerness in training and the progress he had made. The request for undercover training had come out of the blue but had been just the distraction Q had needed. He had kept an eye on Jordan since, monitoring his sessions in the gym, just to keep up with his progress. Good thing too because that encounter with 0010 could have ended disastrously. Thank god the agent was in town though because Q seriously regretted advising M to send all the other double-0's out on missions. 

“How did we not see this coming, Mycroft? How many aliases does the guy have? How many body doubles will shoot themselves in the head before we’re rid of him for good?” He spat through his phone.

“I’m as frustrated as you are. But Denbigh has made himself untouchable at the moment.” Mycroft answered patiently.

“How? What did he do?” Q asked, colour draining from his face as he thought of the potential damage Moriarty or Denbigh or whatever name he used could cause.

“He pushed through the merger and put himself as the head of it.” Mycroft simply stated. Q closed his eyes for a minute and just breathed. God he was glad Jordan had tested the security of the back-up facility. They had detained him in under three minutes when he walked in posing as an ignorant Radius Solutions employee as part of his undercover training. Security needed to be tight because there was no way he was going to let Moriarty near any of his people.

“What are his plans?” He asked.

“He’s planning on making agents superfluous by introducing a monitoring system called Nine Eyes. His first port of call is the abolishment of the double-0 program.”

“Shit.” Q cursed under his breath. The potential damage was enormous. If that program was only a dummy, the plans would still destroy everything the agencies had built up over the years. But if the program had a nefarious intent it could potentially be a catastrophe on a global scale.

“I need to know everything about Nine eyes you can get your hands on, Mycroft. Every scrap of information you can find on it I want to know.” He pressed. He needed to hack that program. He just hoped that Moriarty's programmers weren't as smart as the genius was. But he wasn't holding his breath. If there was one thing Moriarty wasn't, it was sloppy. He hired the best of the best, especially for a job like this.

“Consider it yours.” Mycroft answered.

“What are you going to tell Sherlock?” Q asked. Ever since his three weeks in medical Mycroft had been handling Sherlock’s needs. Paris was turning into a long operation. It seemed someone had tipped the Paris branch of Moriarty’s network off, for Sherlock hadn’t seen hide nor hair of them in months. The only reason his brother knew they were still in the city was because of the whispers the homeless were picking up.

“I'm not telling him anything.” Mycroft’s voice was leaving no room for argument.

“Are you sure? He’s going to be very displeased if we keep him out of this.” Q asked with a frown. They could use all the help they could get at this point.

“The minute he finds out, he will be back in London planning an assassination just to keep Dr Watson safe. I will not have my brother be a murderer if I can help it.” Q suppressed a wince. He couldn’t argue with that logic.

“Warn John off though because he will act when he finds out.” He said.

“Agreed. I will let you get on with your work.” Mycroft answered. Q was glad for it. It was going to be a long busy night.

“Oh, Mycroft?” Q said just before his brother could disconnect. “Give M my apologies for acting without consent.” And he disconnected the call before Mycroft could ask what he was on about.

He threw his phone on his bed and ignored it when Mycroft called back immediately. He looked at the clock. 01.10 AM it read. He’d gotten 6 hours and it was the first interrupted night he’d had in weeks. He was good to go and that was a good thing because he would need every minute of his 4 days he was going to get.


	5. Chaos and Death

R tiredly wiped a strand of hair out of her face. It had been another long shift. 12 hours was still a bit too many after her burn-out but needs must. 006 for some reason had been grumpy that she’d broken her 4-hour limit that first week, but he had been sent out on a mission soon after so that was one less babysitter to worry about. She could convince Bill much easier to let her work. So far, the strain she had been feeling before her force medical leave hadn’t yet returned. The projects that they currently had going were very interesting and Q kept her entertained with all his crazy contingency plans.

Q was one paranoid bastard, she found. Even more so than most of the double-0’s. It shouldn’t have surprised her. She had seen his file. The designation Q was the only information it contained. She sometimes wondered who had the most safe-houses, Q or the agents. The ideas the man came up with for the protection of the branch, were fortunately all defensive and protective in nature. All about blocking attacks and securing their people and property. There weren’t any offensive actions in there. She would’ve blocked those immediately if there were.

The most ridiculous one was for when the agency was in danger of being compromised. Q had papers drawn up to actually privatize the branch. The cover story would become reality and MI6 would hire their services on a contract basis. They would no longer be government employees. The idea scared the crap out of R. Because that would mean there would no longer be oversight on what Q was doing. R knew she could control Q to an extent. That control had been given to her by Q himself, but she knew M and maybe even the director were supporting it. But if that fell away what would keep her from being prosecuted if she had to take measures to contain Q.

Her phone rang. The big Q on the screen made her groan. It was bloody 2 o’clock in the morning. If he called with another bloody plan at this hour, they were going to have words.

“Research and Development, how can we make your life easier and mine harder tonight?” She cheerfully answered the phone with her fingers crossed behind her back.

“You sound a bit stressed today, honey. Everything all right?” Q answered her. Her heart stopped. Stressed. He’d asked her if she was stressed. Well she bloody was now. That was a code they had agreed on. If there ever was a problem and they’d had to activate one of the contingencies, Q would pretend to be her husband and ask her if she was stressed.

“Well, you know how it goes, honey, always busy over here.” She replied in the same cheery voice though she couldn’t quite keep her worry out of her voice.

“You sound like you could use a holiday. I saw this great cruise we could all go on.” Oh, please tell me you’re kidding, she thought.

“Oh?” She simply said.

“It’s pirate themed. You know how the kids enjoy those?” And there she had it. The activation word. The one measure she was worried about. Something had happened then, that Q felt it was no longer safe to stay with MI6. Q had warned them that there was something going on but she had thought it wouldn’t be so bad. Apparently, she was mistaken.

“That sounds awesome, honey. I’m sure the kids will love it.” She worked hard to keep the sarcasm at bay and to play the scene that they had practiced.

“Start packing as soon as you’ll get home then. There were enough spaces left for the one departing on Monday. I’ll book us places and take care of the rest.” Monday suddenly seemed right around the corner even though it was only Friday night.

“Thank you, this was what I needed.” Not she thought angrily. “I’ll tell the others. Bye.” And she threw her phone on the desk as soon as the line disconnected. She sat down with her hands in her hair. This was so fucked up she didn’t even know where to begin. Why had she ever agreed to do this? Well, she answered herself angrily, because you stupidly thought it would never happen. She felt she was committing treason, because she doubted M was aware of the plans. She knew M trusted Q, to an extent at least. But she doubted M would ever agree to this.

There was a knock at the door of her office.

“Enter.” she called.

The door was opened by Faith of all people, dressed as a courier for parliament, followed by someone carrying two boxes.

“Delivery for R.” Faith said handing over a clipboard.

R read the paper.

_R,_

_These are the contracts needed for the transfer. The first box contains the resignation papers. The second the new contracts. Have them all sign both please._

_Q_

Fuck, he was actually going through with it. R signed the paper as if that was needed before handing back the clipboard.

“Put them beside the desk please.” She said. The guy carrying the boxes seemed very relieved to be rid of his burden. Faith didn’t say anything else. She simply walked out, her helper following her dutifully, and closing the door behind her.

R sighed again. Agonizing about what to do now. Was she actually going through with this?

Another, more urgent knock on her door interrupted any other thoughts she could have on the subject. The door was opened before she could answer.

“R, you’ve got to see this.” Andy, one of the minions said as he walked in. He was carrying a laptop with him which he sat in front of her. There was the BBC news feed on paused on it. Streets filled with people, all dressed up. But the headlines meant nothing good. Chaos and death on Día de Muertos in Mexico City, it said.

“Why are you showing me this?” She asked.

“I was screening it, looking to see if I could catch a glimpse of the perpetrator. To see if he was of interest to us. The pictures are professional quality so I actually had a good chance. You’ll never believe what I found.

He started the tape. R watched in horror as the apartment building collapsed on top of the crowd. The screams weren’t captured and the panic didn’t travel far in the crowd probably because of the loud music and parade coming by. Then a helicopter landed in the middle of a busy square. Whomever was stupid enough to land one there was seriously deranged. One person climbed on board and it took off but not before someone else jumped in too. The helicopter swerved and dipped while there was obviously fighting going on in the back. At some point one of the two was hanging out of the cabin with his upper body. This was when Andy paused the video.

“I got to zoom in very closely because, like I said, the video quality was so good. Look at this.” He zoomed in. Closer and closer. Until the face of the man was clearly visible.

“But that’s 007.” She gasped. “What the hell? he was supposed to be grounded!”

“I know.” Andy said. “It’s why I came to you.”

“Right, we’re taking this up to M’s office.” She said as she grabbed her phone to call Moneypenny. “He’ll deal with this.” The boxes could wait a second. And while she was up there, she had the perfect opportunity to visit her husband in his office. Perhaps he could shed some light on what she needed to do.


	6. Confronting Q

Bill Tanner strode into the building that Q branch was calling their emergency headquarters these days. He hadn’t been there before, even though he’d had plans to take a look at it. Now though, he could care less about the interior and how appropriate it was for Q-branch. The only thing he wanted to do was find Q and hear what he had to say.

It was less than an hour ago Kimberlee had left to return to work after a long and interesting discussion. She had come in clearly worried and for a moment Bill had feared she had slipped back into her burn-out. It was far to soon for her to be working as intensely as she was, but Bill didn’t know how to stop her. The only thing he knew he could do was support her and keep his eyes open. However, when she had explained the crazy stunt Q was pulling and how worried she was about it, it sent his thoughts into overdrive. She had shown him the contracts and he had gone over them with a magnifying glass, looking for any traps or loopholes. But they had been laid out remarkably well. The conditions and stipulations in the employment contracts were identical to the ones laid out in the original MI6 ones. But the fact that Q-branch would be severed from MI6, from any branch of government, was worrying to the extreme. He could completely understand his wife’s concern.

He had a couple as well. Kim's contract was different. On paper she would be the Director of the branch. Therefor all responsibility lay on her. If the whole thing failed and a scapegoat would be needed, Kim’s head would be on the block. Bill didn’t like that thought, especially when he looked further into the mother company.

Radius had a spotless reputation. It was why a lot of his people used them. The owner had been in charge of the company from the very beginning. But there was a backer with a lot of influence. The Ormond Investment company had provided the start-up capital. That company had been set-up only a month before Radius had started. That in itself wasn’t that problematic. No, what Bill really had a problem with was that soon after, Ormond Investment Company had become part of the Holmes family investment firm.

This was a very old firm, dating back well over a hundred years. It was obviously a family run business and therein lay the problem. There was only one name that M cursed more than any other. That name was Holmes. Why she was so adamantly against the family, Bill didn’t know. But he had trusted M. And if she thought the Holmes were no good then that carried a lot of weight in his book.

“Q” He called out as soon as he spotted the man in front of the nicely appointed and much larger IT-department. The man looked up and stood as soon as he spotted him. Q was wearing a very nice suit. Far nicer than he’d ever shown. It set off Bill’s alarm bells. Where would Q get the income to pay for Savile Row?

“Tanner.” Q answered from where he stood behind his desk.

“Follow me please.” He simply said.

“One moment.” Q answered and sat down again, typing furiously. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to be working on anything major because he got up only a minute later and joined him. Bill didn’t say anything as he led him out of the building to his waiting car. He was a bit surprised thought that Q didn’t hesitate for a second to get in.

The drive over was silent. Bill kept his eyes on the road and drove cautiously knowing his emotions were running high. All too soon they drove into the abandoned building that had been the home of MI6 for so many years. It was now a shell waiting for destruction. It was sitting on prime real estate after all. The sell of the land would benefit the coffers of the government greatly. He led Q to his favourite place in the entire building. The roof had an amazing view over the river and he’d spent many a morning enjoying his coffee while watching the sun rise as it was doing now.

They stood there silently just enjoying the view. It was Q who first spoke first.

“I’m guessing, we’re not here for the view? Kindly get on with it as I have a busy schedule.” He said, not taking his eyes off the glistening Thames.

“Busy doing what, Q?” Bill asked curtly.

“Protecting our people.” Q answered plainly.

“You mean my people. You might still use the moniker, Q, but you are no longer Quartermaster, no longer part of MI6.” Bill argued.

“I may no longer be Quartermaster.” Q answered with a hint of bitterness in his voice. “But no one fired me. Therefor I’m still very much part of MI6. My loyalty is still with _our_ people. And right now, they need protecting. And I will do whatever is necessary to keep them safe.” Bill churned those words over in his head. He hadn’t seen Q since the day of the committee hearing. So, what did he mean when he said he was still part of MI6? Eventually deciding he probably wouldn’t get an answer anyway if he asked about that he decided to focus on the important things.

“Protect them from what?” He asked intensely. Because he hadn’t heard anything about a threat that required these extreme measures.

“If you don’t know yet you’ll find out with everyone else on Monday. But I will have my people out before the news breaks and my moves are blocked.” Q’s voice was powerful and unyielding. His back was straight and his face stern as he stared across the water. He looked like one of those pictures of the kings of old ready to lead their people in battle.

“This is really necessary?” Bill asked.

“I think it is.” Q answered without even a hint of doubt.

“And if it turns out it wasn’t?” Bill asked. “My wife is about to commit an act of treason. Or it will look like that on paper. Her name is on the top of those pages. If anyone takes offence it will be her head on the block.” It seemed those words finally got through to Q because he turned away from the view for the first time and looked at him.

“I’ve done my best to protect her.” He said with a weird tone in his voice Bill couldn’t really place.

“Because of you she’s in league now with a company led in part by a family the old M hated.” Bill spat out. Q’s face lost its warmth. He didn’t look angry or sad. Just blank.

“She did.” Q said, his voice cold. “She had good reason too. The Holmes are a powerful family. There was a rotten apple. However, he was dealt with and the family tried to repair the damage he caused. M didn’t see that though.” Q’s voice gained emotion as he spoke. There was a lot of anger and severe sadness in those final words.

Bill was silent as he thought long and hard about what Q had said. But the words weren’t good enough to protect his wife.

“How is that going to stop my wife from being thrown to the wolves.” He asked bitterly.

“I _will_ protect her, Tanner.” Q answered intensely

“How? It’s not your name on that paper.” Bill almost shouted back.

“No, my name is still above it.” Q bit back just as loudly.


	7. Benedict Ormond Holmes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still streaming on twitch as I write (unless I'm sick) and I would love for you to come and say hi. It really helps me.
> 
> Littlemissrose85 on twitch: every night, except saturday, 20.00 CET. 
> 
> So please come join me.

Bill fell silent. Taken aback by this new piece of information. Because there was only one name on Kim’s contract apart from her own. Benedict Ormond Holmes, Owner of the Ormond Investment Company, CEO of the Holmes Family Investment Firm, complete with autograph.

It all explained so much. M’s irrational hatred towards Q. Q’s words about the Holmes family, his family. Even the suit he could now explain. Q was in charge of a company worth billions. Of course, he could afford Savile Row. The ease with which Q ran the department was also explainable now. He had been running successful businesses for years. 

The silence dragged on as Bill tried and failed to regain his composure. Q just looked at him. Patiently waiting for him to say something it seemed.

Benedict Ormond Holmes. It was an unusual name. Something that would’ve stood out. A name to remember. But that hadn’t been the name Q had used within MI6, he remembered. What was Holmes, a man of considerable wealth, doing working a simple government job? He had started out as a nobody, barely making any money before working his way up. Why would he do that? And why do that within MI6? Was he a spy?

But then he remembered Mallory and M had gotten into that discussion. And even M hadn’t been able to accuse Q of being a spy in the end. Because Mallory had said Q wouldn’t be there if he had been a plant to take out M for the Director, with whom Q had some connection. But what if he had been there for different reasons?

“I wanted to work with computers, not people.” Q, Holmes he reminded himself, interrupted his train of thought as if he had been reading his mind. “Business is boring. Even though I’m good at it. It’s easy and empty and involves talking to people with ego’s the size of walruses and brains the size of peas who don’t want to listen to anyone other than themselves. I despise it. Yet someone has to do it. So, it might as well be me.” Holmes almost spat out those words as if they were venom.

“I like computers. I like writing code. To find the cracks in a firewall and sneak into a system. But the temptation to become like MU3RT0S, always looking for the next big challenge and not caring what the end result was, was becoming too great. I needed to contain myself. Do something good with what I liked doing. MI6 gave me that opportunity.” Q stared at him expectantly, silently asking if he had any other questions.

“Why use a different name then?” Bill asked. He could’ve come up with quite a few reasons, but he wanted to know Q’s.

“I wouldn’t have been able to be a normal little programmer hidden away in a dark corner like I wanted to if I used my own name.” Q answered.

“That’s not what you became though.” Bill pushed a little, trying to find if Q had some hidden motivation.

“No.” Q said simply. There was no regret in his voice though.

“You don’t sound regretful about that. I figured you would be if what you wanted was to hide away in a corner.” Bill asked, still wanting to know the answer.

“I don’t regret making that choice. I help people. Protect my country. It’s my purpose. Even if I tried to stay away from that for as long as possible, eventually I would’ve ended up doing the same I’m doing now. I just made that transition sooner than I expected to.” Q sounded incredibly calm and collected. It was slightly creepy just how calm the man was. Bill knew Q was steady under pressure, but even the greatest leaders would show some sign of stress. Yet Q was peace personified. Once again Bill wondered what made Q tick. And what did he mean with the whole purpose shebang? No one was born to protect the nation, except for the royals. But no one had ever heard of the Holmes family so they probably weren’t noble. Q just shrugged at his questioning gaze.

“Never mind.” He said. “All you need to know is that nothing really changed. Q-branch is still completely MI6. Nothing will change that. And these measures will be reversed once the threat has passed. I will protect them all. Please, believe me on that.” He said those last words with complete and utter conviction and Bill almost wanted to give in, 99% sure that Q meant those words. There was only one thing stopping him from doing so.

“Just tell me this.” He said eventually. “What did M have against your family?”

Q sighed and gave him a sad smile.

“I never knew this until after she died.” He started. “She left me something in her will. It came as a complete surprise. But when I looked into the file she gave me, I understood why she hated us so much. You see, M had been building a case against my uncle. He died when I was fifteen so I never knew what he was up to until I saw that file. Since then I looked into it further. What I found wasn’t pretty.” Q turned towards the Thames again, looking on as the waters playfully reflected the now golden sun.

“My family is powerful.” Q continued. “And my uncle abused that power in every way imaginable. Money laundering, blackmail, bribery, all the way up to kidnapping and murder. You name it, he’s done it. I don’t know when or how it began. It wouldn’t have been about money. He had enough of that. In the end I think it was a game. To see how much he could get away with. He wasn’t even hiding it very well because M found out and started gathering evidence. My family found out as well. Their file is much thicker. Both were just about ready to take steps when my uncle unexpectedly died of a heart attack. It was ruled natural causes. If I was a religious person, I might even have said it was the hand of God shoving him into hell. All I can say is good riddance. The only bad thing about it was the timing because M never saw that the rest of the family wasn’t corrupt like my uncle was. So, she continued to hate us all. I don’t blame her for that.” Q fell silent and just continued to stare at the water.

Bill had to let this sink in for a bit. This was obviously a very painful thing for Q to talk about. And Bill could understand that, even though he couldn’t really relate it. Bill himself didn’t have any family, apart from Kim. He had been one of the orphans the former M had been so fond of picking up. But it wasn’t hard to imagine how it would feel if you were confronted with a family member that had gone off the beaten track so badly.

Still, some things didn’t make much sense. Like the fact that the Holmes were apparently a powerful family, but Bill had never heard of them. The implications of that he didn’t really want to go into right now. It sounded way too much like organized crime to him. But the organized crime in Britain was quite well documented in MI5 and MI6 had access to those files because of the global nature of those forms of crime. So, that wasn’t it. He could ask about it of course, but Bill felt certain Q wouldn’t share anyway. It was unfortunate because it prevented Bill from completely settling his mind. But he didn’t know what else to ask. Q seemed so meticulous in his answers, sharing only the smallest amount of information, that Bill didn’t think he could make Q part with more than he already had. He had a bit of a think about how to proceed from here.

“Does M know?” He asked eventually. He trusted M. If M knew and trusted Q than that might be enough ease his mind.

“M knows my name.” Q said frowning as if deep in thought. “I don’t know if he knows my first name or if he knows about my uncle. And all though I would like to ask you to keep this information to yourself.” Bill held his breath for a moment. There was no way in hell he was keeping this from M. “I don’t mind if you take this up with him. I trust M to do what’s right.” Bill sighed in relief when Q said this causing Q to smile.

“I hope M can relieve some of your worries.” Q said. “I promise you again that I will protect your wife with everything I can. And I am not without resources even if I will never use the methods my uncle used.”

Bill sighed and nodded in acceptance. He wasn’t totally convinced yet about Q and the actions he was taking. But he hoped his talk with M would alley his fears. He gestured towards the exit and together they walked the derelict halls back to the car.

“Hmmm.” Q said as he looked around the wide empty space of the parking garage that used to house the fleet of government vehicles. “This building might come in handy.” Bill looked at him in question, but Q only smiled that little smile of his and stepped into the car.


	8. Going to get some answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE PLEASE READ!!!!!!
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> For those who hadn't heard yet Batten down the Hatches has gone through a major review. Some chapters have been totally rewritten. I will strongly urge all of you who haven't done so already to read the entire story again.
> 
> I hope you like it and the new chapter.
> 
> Would love to hear your thoughts.

“Gareth, now is really not a good time.” Mycroft sounded utterly calm while he said that but the fact that he said those words were indication enough. There was really something going on.

“Why don’t you take a break and tell me all about it, Mycroft. Preferably over a spot of tea at the Diogenes club? I would really like to know what the hell you and Benedict are up to.” He answered sounding casual but he hoped that the name drop would give Mycroft enough inclination to invite him.

He heard a sigh over the phone which surprised and worried him. The fact that the iceman gave any indication of his mood was quite frankly terrifying.

“I will see you in 10 minutes.” Was all Mycroft said before he disconnected the call. Gareth, having expected this, wasted no time. He grabbed his coat and walked out of his office.

“Sir.” Moneypenny said as she stood from her desk in the outer office. He was glad she was back. The other secretary hadn’t been half as efficient as she was.

“I have a meeting with the Director. I don’t know how long I’ll be. Have 0010 report to me when I return. I’ll probably have a mission for him.”

“Yes Sir.” Moneypenny rose and reached for her coat. Gareth stopped her.

“Stay here.” He said. “I’ll be back soon and you have a lot of work to catch up on.”

“But Sir, you are required to bring a protection detail whenever you leave the building.” She stubbornly kept putting on her coat. “I’m perfectly capable of managing your work while you have your meeting.” Gareth fought the urge to role his eyes. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that he had been a special forces soldier once upon a time. Ever since his name had changed from Mallory to M he felt treated like a precious little butterfly.

“I’m afraid this meeting is of the utmost secrecy and you’re not allowed to know it’s location.” Gareth replied, thinking up an excuse quickly. While it was technically a lie, the content of this meeting was of such a delicate nature, family matters always were, that he didn’t want anyone to know about it. Moneypenny hesitated for a second and then sat back down. She was not done however.

“If I don’t hear from you within 2 hours, I’ll activate your search and rescue protocol, Sir. I’m sure 0010 will enjoy destroying London while recovering you.” She sounded disgruntled and the slight worry in her voice made him smile.

“I doubt the meeting will take that long. If it does run late, I’ll check in beforehand.” He answered with a smile.

“Yes, Sir.” She answered and then returned to her work. Gareth put his coat on and looked at his watch. He bit back a curse knowing that he was going to be late and hurried out the door.

After another hick-up at the garage Gareth was finally driving the borrowed MI6 SUV towards the Diogenes club. He drove carefully knowing his thoughts weren’t completely on the road. His mind was on all the information Tanner had brought him. It had been one bomb drop after another. Not only about what Q was doing but also about who he was. Q had revealed a lot more information by sending Tanner to him than he had to Tanner himself. Because for all Tanner knew, Q’s family was just ordinarily rich and the power Q had talked about was them throwing money around. Gareth knew better.

There was almost nothing known about the position Mycroft held, unless you were working for him. His staff was involved in just about everything that went on in government. Mostly they passed on information, only acting when ordered. If something required serious attention, his assistant dealt with it. Only if a certain touch was required, did Mycroft get his hands dirty. But any and all happenings on the political circuit were known to him.

Not many knew Mycroft’s name. So, he was a bit surprised that Q had shared his. Gareth had only learned Mycroft’s name after he’d retired from the SAS, having been Mycroft’s official informant on all things military for about 10 years. After his retirement the assistant informed him that a job was waiting for him in the main offices. He worked directly below her for 2 years before deciding politics was his next port of call. It was then that he met Mycroft personally for the first time. As they met more and more and Mycroft manoeuvred him into better positions, they developed something of a professional friendship. It was only then that Mycroft told him his name. A name only used in certain circles.

The rise in fame of Sherlock Holmes meant that Mycroft rarely used his name anymore, even among those that knew it. Not many put the link between Sherlock and Mycroft. The two bared very little physical resemblance, though Gareth had heard rumours that their characters were fairly matched. Sherlock and Q however, looked very similar. The same curly hair and tall and slim build. Sherlock’s facial structure looked more profound in his pictures than Q’s and Q’s glasses hid them even more. So, nobody would immediately draw the parallels unless they knew the name or saw the two together.

He parked in front of the club, his door directly in front of the main entrance. Getting out he did a quick scan of the immediate vicinity. Everything looked as it should but he wouldn’t let his guard down until he was inside. As he approached, the door of the club was opened and he walked straight in. Knowing he was expected he simply followed the servant to Mycroft’s office.

Finding Q also there was unexpected but not unwelcome. The two brothers were staring at each other in what could only be described as a squabble. Their eyes and faces flicked and twitched in what appeared to be a heated debate. Gareth sat on the couch and relaxed, watching the interaction as one might watch a tennis match. The doors opened again for the tea trolly. Tea was poured and ignored by the brothers but Gareth gladly accepted his. It was only after the doors closed again that the debate turned from silent to heated. Or as heated as things would be with these two.

“What would you expect me to do? Tanner thought I was asking him to put his wife’s life into the hands of people he was weary about. He held Mansfield in high esteem and we all know what she thought of the Holmes.” Q said calmly.

“I would have expected you to gain the man’s trust without compromising us. I know you know how. I taught you after all.” Mycroft answered just as calmly but his face was contorted into a tight grimace of suppressed fury.

“I’m not a politician, Mycroft. There were serious doubts cast and I dissuaded them with the truth. Tanner is none the wiser and nothing I said will confirm anything to M.” Gareth was a bit surprised the brothers were talking as if they hadn’t realized he was there though they obviously knew he was.

“I expected better from you, Ben.” Mycroft sounded as cold and calm as ever but Benedict sat up as if slapped in the face. A myriad of emotions crossed his face all revolving around hurt and sadness.

“Mycroft, I didn’t…” He started.

“But you did. Or came very close to. Some might think you were trying to force my hand on the issue we discussed before.” Mycroft’s voice actually started to contain emotions. There were hints of hurt and anger. It was truly fascinating to see the ice mask break.

“Some.” Benedict answered. “But not you. You know me better than that.” And Gareth saw Mycroft concede on that.

“You trust too easily. Care too much.” Mycroft shot back.

“Caring is not an advantage. I know” Benedict rolled his eyes and mimicked Mycroft as he said it. “It’s the one thing you taught me that never stuck. Because I don’t believe in it.”

“It’s a vulnerability we can’t afford to have.” Mycroft argued but Gareth could tell he was lecturing a brick wall. Q crossed his arms defensively.

“Yes, we can. As long as we do it with the right people.” Ben argued back. It was an argument they had had many times before and never got any further with, Gareth realized. “If we surround ourselves with people who are trustworthy, we’ll be stronger and better for it. It’s not like we would lose our minds simply because we’re surrounded by other people. We will still be able to disagree with them and make our own decisions. We simply would be surrounded by advisors who can keep us from going astray.” Gareth actually saw the indecisiveness in Mycroft’s eyes on the issue. It made him look strangely vulnerable. He had never seen Mycroft, the British government personified, look so human before. As cold and calculated as Mycroft normally was, the depth of the emotion Mycroft was capable of, surprised Gareth. It scared him a bit that Mycroft’s confidence could be shaken to such an extent. On the other hand, it also made him feel honoured. That Mycroft trusted him enough to let down his walls to this extend warmed his heart.

A protective urge rose in him unexpectedly. One Mycroft would hate him for having but he didn’t care. Whatever was going on was big. Q had talked in the IT-branch about an enemy that had infiltrated all layers of government. Gareth had thought the words highly exaggerated. Mycroft would have stepped in if that was the case after all. Now that he had seen the Director so shaken, there was no denying the truth of the whispers he’d heard. And he knew that, though he wouldn’t ask it, Mycroft would need his support through all of this and he decided then and there that he would gladly give it to his friend.


	9. Loyalty and trust

Q turned towards M, purposely drawing attention to himself. They really shouldn’t have these discussions in public. The emotions they brought out were damaging to the iceman persona after all. And though Mycroft regarded M higher than he did any other, such emotions were only really shown to family.

“M, apologies, how can we help you tonight?” He asked as he picked up his tea.

“I had an interesting discussion with Tanner.” M said, regarding him intensely. Q stayed calm under his gaze. It had nothing compared to Mummy’s, who had taught Mycroft intimidation techniques.

“I hope you’ve been able to assure him of my good intentions?” Q asked him coolly.

“I have assured him I’ll send in oversight. I’m sure 0010 will be useful to you in some fashion.” M answered in the same tone.

“Oh, I can already think of 10 ways to keep him entertained.” Q answered with a smirk hoping it would hide the relief he felt that M was on board with this. Or at least withholding his judgement at the moment. “It will be a big reassurance to R and any who had doubts. Thank you for that. Please do let him and Moneypenny know to keep the address of our department to themselves. I don’t want any uninvited guests. I was thinking of using the old headquarters as a place to outfit agents. Tanner can bring them back and forth as needed.”

“Is such a degree of separation really required.” M asked looking slightly alarmed.

“Unfortunately.” Mycroft mixed himself in the discussion, iceman persona back in place. Q suppressed a sigh of relief that the damage seemed to have been limited. “And we can’t exactly tell you why.” Mycroft continued. “All I can tell you is someone pushed through the merger and it wasn’t us. I will not colour your judgement about the one that did until we can find concrete evidence against him. His plans however are alarming and Q decided these steps were required to safeguard the nation and his people.”

M nodded thoughtfully sitting up slightly.

“I assume the man will be my new boss? Though you signed my contract Mycroft so as far as I’m concerned, I still work for you.” He said with such conviction it raised Mycroft’s eyebrow. Q smiled at the loyalty his brother was given. No one had ever done that, apart from family and it was good to see. He just hoped his brother didn’t screw that up because it sounded like Mycroft was on his way to making his first friend since his wife died.

Mycroft had met Emily during his years tailing uncle Rudy. Ben didn’t really know how they met or their history. Mycroft just showed up with her out of the blue one day and introduced her as his fiancé. She had been perfect for him. Incredibly smart, very caring and head over heels in love. It was such a shame when she died only a year after they’d gotten married. Q had been 13 at the time and had held his brother as he cried himself to sleep night after night. After the funeral though, Mycroft grew more distant and colder. It had taken years, and the loss of Sherlock to drugs for Mycroft to start opening up to him again. And though they still had their disagreements, their bond was closer than it had ever been. Q cared and it was great to see that someone else, besides their family, cared about Mycroft too.

“Well, he’s supposed to oversee the entire secret service so he would definitely see himself as your boss.” Mycroft answered dryly. “I suppose we’ll let him have that impression. Unfortunately, time is what we’ll need right now. And the only way we can keep your new boss occupied is if we play along.” Q sighed which earned him a frown from Mycroft, but he couldn’t help it. The urge to take a gun and just kill the man was large. But he wouldn’t act on it. He wasn’t like uncle Rudy.

“Which is why you leave me with very little information. So, my reactions will be genuine. Can I expect you to protect the rest of MI6 as well, Q?” M asked casually but the message was clear. If you don’t provide me with the information I need, can I depend on you to act in my stead if necessary?

“Off course, though I might not be quartermaster at the moment, that is still my purpose within MI6.” He answered casually but with a fierce undertone.

“Good. Then I will leave this mess into your capable hands. Do inform me of what is happening when you can.” M said before switching gears. “Now what can you tell me about what the devil 007 is doing in Mexico City? Is he off reservation? Or is he doing something for you?”

“007 is not acting on our behalf...” Mycroft started.

“But we let him go.” Q interrupted before his brother could completely throw Bond under the bus.

“Has he told you what he’s doing?” M asked.

“No.” Mycroft answered simply.

“Did he tell you where he was going?” M asked more intently.

“No.” Q grudgingly admitted and then tried to salvage what he could. “We deduced something was going on but he gave no information. Though we know it was in our countries best interest.”

“So, he’s gone off reservation but hasn’t betrayed us.” M said. “Unfortunately, the mess was way too public to salvage Bond’s reputation. The PM is calling for his imprisonment. The Mexican government is actively hunting him. Nothing short of grounding him indefinitely will do. It’s the perfect opportunity to test the smart blood project.”

“You know I feel that the smart blood transmits way too much information for my peace of mind.” Q argued. “I know this is one of R’s pet projects but I am not comfortable with having that much information on the MI6 server. Especially with this merger debacle. If _he_ gets hold of all that information it could spell disaster.” The thought of Moriarty getting his hands on the vitals and location of a double-0 made Q sick to the stomach.

Smart Blood had been years in development. It was the original reason R had been brought into MI6. Her masters in nanotechnology and the papers she’d written on the subject had made the former Q snap her up before any of the tech companies could. The Smart Blood had been controversial, Q himself was very much in doubt about the safety of the project. He had taken one look at the original program designed for processing the data and had immediately scrapped it. R had put up a fight about her pet project and eventually M had forced them to compromise. Q wrote an impenetrable program for it on the condition no one but him had access to it until they were certain it was safe.

“Then don’t put it on the server. As long as you can keep an eye on him and assure me he’ll stay put this time, I have no problem with it.” M answered. Q sat and thought this through for a while. The timing of this request couldn’t have come at a worse time. But the program was complete for testing. And if he didn’t comply to this, Bond might end up detained or at least tailed wherever he went. This way only Q would know where the agent was and his privacy was somewhat guaranteed. He conceded with a nod.

“All right.” He said. “It’ll take me a week to set everything up. Let’s hope Bond has returned by then.”

“Thank you.” M said and then looked at his watch and stood, cursing under his breath. “I have to get back. Moneypenny threatened to let 0010 out if I didn’t return in time. Thank you for the tea, Director.” And M disappeared through the door.

Q sat back and smiled.

“Well, that is at least one positive development that’s come out of all this.” He commented. Mycroft sniffed in disdain.

“You’re still a sentimental fool, Q.” He scoffed at him a bit resigned. Q grinned.

“And don’t you forget it.” He answered impishly.


	10. Come into the spiderweb

Q waited patiently for 0010 to show up. The man was late which was an indication just what the sour man was thinking of his new assignment. Double-0’s were known for such behaviour when on home soil. Especially when asked to do something they couldn’t be bothered with, like reporting to medical or psych for evaluation. They mostly did turn up on time in Q-branch because they liked getting new toys. But they only ever popped in to collect them. They never stayed around and watched as they were created.

The agent was a bit of a mystery. There were only ever meant to be 9 double-0 agents until, out of the blue, Mansfield made this one the tenth about 20 years ago. To make matters all the more confusing there was also an A level agent with the number 010. Q had started looking into 0010 when he and Jordan started training regularly. The file on the man was nearly as empty as Q’s own. There was only one piece of information beside his designation. First name: Andrew. Nothing beyond that. Q had spent hours trawling through government databases in search of additional information but to no aval. It seemed anything known about 0010 died with the one who hired him.

Finally, Q spotted the agent strolling through the door. He sighed in relief. They had just enough time to get into position before the first applicants arrived.

“Ah, there you are 0010.” He called down the stairs. “Come along. We’re late.” And he headed into the corridor without waiting for the agent who took the stairs two at a time to catch up. Q quickly led him through the wide corridors until he opened a door, letting the agent enter first. The room was small and contained a desk and two chairs positioned before a large window that looked into the other much larger room. Only Jordan was in there reading a book.

“What is Jordan doing here?” 0010 asked, a slight surprise in his voice. Q smirked. The interrogations had continued during training but Jordan had managed to keep from the agent what he actually did within MI6. It helped that the man’s questions had turned from Jordan himself to Q. To keep from giving anything away Jordan had started working on his question evasion techniques. Luckily 0010 had let him evade the questions. Q wondered briefly if he regretted that decision now.

“He works here. IT-department.” Q answered. That raised the man’s eyebrows even more.

“And he’s in there. Why?” The man asked suspiciously.

“In about 5 minutes some of the UK’s best hackers are coming in for a job interview. Jordan is going to do the initial screening. He’s wearing a microphone so we can coach him through it.” Q’s said, his answer gaining him openly suspicious looks from the agent.

“Don’t worry yourself, 0010.” Q answered the unspoken accusation. “M knows that I’m recruiting them. This has been months in the planning. They are part of the handler teams I plan to set up. Just because we won’t use the teams yet doesn’t mean we can’t use some extra hands in the IT-department. We’re terribly understaffed.”

“And what are we here to figure out?” 0010 asked as he settled into the chair and reached for the stack of files before him just as the door opened and the first person walk in. The door closed behind her. Jordan looked up and nodded to her before returning to his reading.

“Hacking is not the most legal of hobbies. Which is why we’re using a ruse to lure them here.” Q answered softly as the young woman, who looked like she should still be in school, sat herself on the other couch nervously. “Most hackers have a criminal record. We’re here to separate the good guys from the bad guys so to speak. The good guys we offer Jobs. The others we turn over to MI5.” They watched as the woman tried to settle but her nerves meant she kept shifting around.

“What ruse did you use? Why is she so nervous?” The agent asked as the door opened again and a 30-something year old man entered. The man took a seat beside Jordan on the couch.

“They’re here to meet their idol. One of the best hackers in the world. They worked their asses of for 36 hours to impress him so when they got the invite they jumped at the chance.” Q answered with a smirk before turning towards the laptop sat beside the file stack on the table. With a quick tap he turned on the microphone.

“Let’s get started with the girl, Jordan.” He said and he was pleased the young man in the other room gave no indication he had heard him beyond stilling. “She looks like she’s dying to share the experience with everyone.” Jordan looked up from his book and smiled at the woman. Before he could do more though she jumped the gun.

“Are you here to meet him too.” She asked, almost jumping up and down with excitement. The other guy seemed to startle and looked around him nervously.

“Shhh.” He said. “Not so loud. You don’t know who’s listening in.” Jordan raised an eyebrow at the guy.

“GH0ST wouldn’t have invited us here if this wasn’t neutral ground, right?” He asked a bit sceptically.

The other guy clearly had a lot of experience hiding from law enforcement. “Yeah right, GH0ST is a white hat. Maybe even a government rat. He could sell us all out.” He looked about ready to jump up and walk out the room.

“Confront him. Ask him why he’s here.” Q told Jordan.

“Why are you here then if this is a trap?” Jordan asked. The man flinched a little and moved in his seat nervously but Q had already seen what he needed to see. Apparently, so had 0010 who searched through the stack for the file with the matching photo.

“Let’s see. Jason Whidden. Started out small before falling in with the wrong crowd. Did a few jobs for the Mafia of all people, before disappearing from the face of the earth. He’s lucky to still be alive if he broke ties with them. No wonder he’s so skittish. He’s really desperate for redemption if he showed his face here.”

“I like second chances.” Q said with a grin before turning back to Jordan. “Concentrate on the girl Jordan it should take the pressure off him and keep him from walking out the door. Ask her about the gauntlet.”

“Did you run the Gauntlet?” Jordan asked her, copying some of her excitement. She had trouble staying in her seat now.

“Did I ever!” She exclaimed while she sat on her hands probably to keep them from flapping about as she talked about her experiences with the gauntlet. She and Iris would get along great, Q thought. 0010 had opened the file on Mandi Parker who was indeed still in school, only a few months away from graduating and going to Oxford on a scholarship for computer science.

“Why did you invite her? She much too young.” He commented.

“That she is, but she drew attention. Her completion rate for the gauntlet was fairly high and she tried to hack it at the same time as she was working on it. The fact that she’s British and has yet to do any serious hacking makes me want to tap her early. We’ll still let her go to university off course, I already arranged for her scholarship. But after I want to be able to snag her up quickly. IT is a competitive world.” Q explained as the door opened again and a woman strode into the room as if she owned the place. Q grimaced at the display. That was not a great first impression.

0010 activated the microphone before Q could. “Jordan, focus on her immediately. Pander to her. She is the type that loves to boast of her abilities.” The man was really getting into it. He had relaxed into his chair watching the interactions in the room. Good, Q thought. He had hoped to let 0010 coach Jordan while he focussed on getting to know his candidates better in one on one interviews. He had borrowed his brother’s assistant for this too. Arabella, April had changed her name this morning, was waiting in another smaller interrogation room to oversee those interviews and to alert MI5 in case they were necessary.

“Can I leave you to continue to work with Jordan while I conduct further interviews, 0010?” He asked. The agent looked up and then narrowed his eyes in thought. Q waited for the man to run through his mission details to see if M had ordered the agent to tail him specifically. After a minute the agent only nodded shortly before turning back to the room.

“Good, I’ll start with Mr. Whidden. He’s unlikely to relax further than he is now. I’ll come back for a report about the other contestants before I collect the next one.” Q got up and headed for the other room. With a nock he opened it and asked Mr. Whidden to come with him. The skittish man took a deep breath to steady himself and walked towards him.


	11. Emotions run high

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,
> 
> Finally another update. No I've not given up on this story. Far from it in fact. But life has gotten busy and I needed to reorganize and make time. It certainly didn't help that this story is fighting me. But I've got a better picture now of the story line than I've had in a long time. Hopefully my posting pace will pick up again. 
> 
> Please leave me a comment to let me know if you like it. I adore reading them. They give me such a confidence boost.
> 
> Also I still stream on twitch as I write this story. So if you want to watch or listen or just have a natter in the chat with me please come and join me on my channel: littlemissrose85. I'm usually there after 20.00 CET. 
> 
> For now though enjoy the chapter!!!

The way Whidden came walking out of the room could only be described as a cross between a skittish colt and a beaten dog. He was hunched in on himself, as if he was certain he had just been called to his execution, but his eyes kept glancing in all directions as he tried to decide if he could still make a run it. Q almost felt sorry for the reformed man. Almost, because he had still been trained by Mycroft and he was far from naïve. This man had done wrong and Q wasn’t going to forget that in a hurry. Even if he wanted to give the man a chance to do good.

“Follow me please.” He said once the door was closed, and he walked down the corridor hoping the hacker wouldn’t make a run for it behind his back. Not because he would escape, security would stop him as Q had warned them to be extra alert today, but because it would ruin any chances the man behind him had.

Luckily the room they were heading for wasn’t far and they reached it without incident. Q opened the door and gestured for the other man to enter. Whidden froze in the doorway. Not without reason. The room beyond looked like the typical interrogation room. Bare, only a table with two chairs on each side, a camera hanging in the corner and the big two-way mirror behind it.

Whidden surveyed the room in silence for a while before letting out a sigh. He straightened and walked into the room. Oddly he looked more relaxed now than he did in the corridor. Q let the door close behind him, startling Whidden as it locked automatically. For a moment he got that skittish look back as he realized that he was trapped but then a resigned look appeared on his face.

“Have a seat.” Q said, gesturing to the chairs facing the mirror as he seated himself on the opposite side. Whidden lowered himself gingerly into the chair.

“Well, Mr. Whidden.” Q said as he opened the file he’d brought with him. “I will not beat around the bush as it will do your nerves nothing good. I can confirm you were right when you said that GH0ST was a government rat, though asset might be a better word. You are on very thin ice right now.” Q watched as the man seemed to sink in the chair and look down as if he wanted to disappear from under his gaze. Q took his time regarding him. Trying to read every minute micro-expression, looking for just the slightest hint that could convince him not to offer this man a second chance. For a moment he wished he had his elder brothers’ deductive abilities. But he didn’t and he had to make a decision based on what he saw. So, with his fingers crossed under the table, he took a chance.

“However, you still have options.” He quietly added. Whidden looked up, startled.

“After I leave this room, a couple of MI5 agents will come in accompanied by a lawyer that we have arranged for you. Then we have three options for you to choose from. Option one: you tell them nothing and they will arrest you for a whole list of charges.” Whidden swallowed convulsively at the thought.

“Option two: You give them a full signed confession after which you walk out of here a free man to do as you please.” This option seemed to appeal to Whidden a lot more because he straightened and suddenly looked very hopeful. Q let out a sigh knowing he’d made the right call. The man seemed honestly happy at the prospect of confessing. Q only hoped he would take his job offer into consideration now. Bracing himself he continued.

“Or option three: you stay here and wait for me to return. I am in need of a man with your skills, Mr. Whidden. And in exchange for your services we are prepared to offer you what protection we can on top of pay and other benefits that come with a government job. However, I need you to decide before I enter the room if you are willing to sign the contract. Once I’ve started to explain what we do here there is no going back for you. Do you understand.” Q hated not giving out any information but he knew he couldn’t risk it. Not with this man. He just hoped the offer of protection and stability was enough for Whidden to take the plunge.

“Do you have any questions?” Q asked. He saw Whidden start to shake his head but pause with a puzzled look. He seemed to be in discussion with himself, conflicting emotions flashed on his face. Irritation, longing, hope, desperation, fear. All cycled through the man until he found his voice for the first time since he’d sat down.

“This job.” He asked, his voice raspy from all the emotions. “Will this give me the opportunity to do good? To make up for everything I’ve done.” The voice got more and more desperate and hopeful the more Whidden spoke. It made Q smile because he knew that even if he didn’t offer anything beyond pay, Whidden would still sign. The man was an idealist and just needed the opportunity to shine.

“Yes.” He answered simply. “If done right you would have the ability to protect this country and save the lives of those living in it.” Whidden seemed to crumble as he heard those words. One hand came up towards his throat to grasp the little cross that Q had spotted hanging there while the other covered his eyes, hiding the tears that were now flowing from them.

Silently, knowing his part of the job was done, he got up and left the room.

* * *

Q slipped back into the room occupied by 0010. The man had been busy. The desk was covered in open files of the various people in the room beyond. A room that seemed to have descended into chaos. Jordan was on his feet, standing front of Mandi, the girl that had come in first. She looked ready to burst into tears. In front of the couches 3 people were in a loud argument with one another.

“What happened?” Q asked the man sitting comfortably behind the desk. The agent smirked which made Q want to bang his head against the wall. Of course, the agent was the cause of this.

“They’re making their allegiance known. Very loudly.” 0010 replied very amused. “Those three were sniping at each other from the moment they stepped into the room. They went to university together and were part of the same hacker group. The last job they pulled was borderline illegal after which the two on the one side, who are white hatters I believe the term is, split from the group. The woman has a nice wanted poster with Interpol and not one ounce of regret.”

Q sniggered. That was one of the reasons he had invited all three of them to the same meeting. People talked amongst acquaintances more freely than they did among strangers. But this was even better than he had imagined.

“I’ll send a couple of MI5 agents your way to make the arrest. Then you can explain the situation to the others. The contracts and confidentiality agreements are in the files. I’ll take Mandi with me for a tour and an introduction. Then, when MI5 is done with Whidden, I’ll do the tour for all three of them together.” Q saw the agent nod and shot a short text to Arabella asking her to send a couple of agents over before picking up Mandi’s file and heading out of the room again.


	12. Ending an argument

Jordan kept a hand on Mandi’s arm out of instinct as he shielded her from the others in the room. The lesson 009 had taught him the first time they met in the locker room had apparently sunk deeply into his subconscious. The three hackers that were currently trying to verbally eviscerate each other obviously had a history. Jordan had been busy pandering to Pasco, the woman who had come in just before Q had taken Whidden out of the room, when the other two had arrived together. The snarked “what are _you_ doing here?” was indication enough that the two at the door had a falling out with the woman. 0010 had guided him to poke around in there, see if it would set something off. Jordan had hesitated, it was completely against his nature to try to set people up against one another. 0010 however simply guided him through the conversation, sometimes literally telling him word for word what he had to say. In the end it required very little to set off the former friends.

“This is not how I imagined the day to go.” Mandi whispered behind him.

“Reassure her, Jordan.” 0010 advised. “She’s here to enjoy her day after all. Q already gave her the all clear. So, you can reveal things to her.” Jordan turned to face her.

“Neither did I.” He answered. “But don’t worry, GH0ST won’t be like them.” Mandi frowned.

“How do you know that.” She asked. Jordan winked at her, not daring to say anything out loud because of the other people in the room.

“Show her to the door, Jordan. Q will pick her up there.” Came over his microphone.

“Come on.” Jordan said to Mandi. “I’ll show you.” And with a hand on her back, he started to guide her to the door.

“But weren’t we supposed to stay here?” Mandi protested weakly.

“Nah, trust me.” Jordan said. “It’ll be fine.”

Mandi kept looking at him very sceptically but didn’t resist as he opened the door. Q was just coming out of the door behind them.

“Thank you, Jordan. I’ll take it from here. I want you to assist 0010 when he explains our offer to the other two after MI5 has taken Mrs. Pasco.” Jordan saw two unfamiliar agents coming down the corridor. Mandi looked utterly bewildered at what was going on.

“Sure thing, Q.” Jordan answered before turning to the young girl. “Mandi this is Q, my boss. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. Let him show you around and I’ll see you later.” He winked at her again for good measure before turning and heading back into the room. The shouting seemed to have eased, but the accusations were no less heavy.

“I still can’t believe you almost dragged us with you.” Willis was standing beside Steinberg, both men looked completely disappointed with Pasco. The woman in turn looked at the two men like they were insane.

“Well, I was willing to share the wealth, boys. But you were stupid enough to turn down that money. That’s on you, not on me.” Pasco scoffed.

“That was not what we agreed on. What we set out to do.” Steinberg shot back. “You swore, just like we did to uphold the law. We even signed a contract on it. And yet you accepted that job, and lied to us about it. You said it was legal. I trusted you.” Steinberg’s voice was icy.

“Yeah well, we pulled it off and were paid rather handsomely. And it was legal.”

“Borderline.” Willis said. “And that next job they asked us to do certainly wasn’t.”

“When we quit, I just wanted to walk away. I didn’t want to press charges, to rat you out to the cops. I just wanted to never to see you again. But now that I have, I will give you this warning. In 24 hours, I will go to the police and tell them what I know. I will help them hunt you down and put you away.” Steinberg said menacingly.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Pasco hissed.

“He doesn’t have to.” 0010’s voice came from just behind him. Jordan turned slightly, not having heard him come in. He had kept from jumping though which he cheered for internally. He turned slightly to see the three agents standing behind him.

“Jolie Pasco, Agent Foster and this is Agent Patrelli, MI5, you are under arrest for illegal hacking and aiding in fraudulent affairs as well as other charges that will added at a later date.” The MI5 agents stepped forward and grabbed the startled woman. She screamed at the men to keep their hands off her, but they ignored her in favour of handcuffing her and reading her her rights. Steinberg and Willis looked on grimly as she was taken away, still throwing insults to everyone she laid her eyes on.

0010 stepped forward. “Gentlemen.” He said gesturing to the couch. “I’m sure you have questions. Have a seat and we’ll answer them.”

The two looked at each other before sitting down. Jordan joined the double-0 on the other couch. 0010 leaned forward a little and opened the two files he had been carrying on coffee table that was sitting before them. The files were obviously about the two men before them. The two leaned forward slightly and paled as they saw the information.

“You have a distinguished career, gentlemen. And I’m not talking about your day jobs.” 0010 started the conversation.

“All our work was legal and contracted. We’ve done nothing wrong.” Steinberg defended the both of them. “You have no right to keep us here.”

“We are not keeping you from leaving.” Jordan said seriously. “You’ve done nothing wrong and we are not detaining you. If you want to leave there is the door.” The two hackers looked at one another and began to rise. “However.” Jordan continued just as the men were turning towards the door. “You won’t meet GH0ST. Wasn’t that your purpose for coming here?”

The two froze and turned back to him.

“Who says GH0ST is even in the building? For all we know it was just a trick to get us to expose ourselves. To be able to arrest some hackers.” Willis asked accusingly.

“True. We did just arrest your lady friend.” The double-0 cut in smoothly and the faces of the other two darkened at the thought of her. “However, I can assure you GH0ST is in this building. He just walked away with that lovely young woman Jordan was talking with. I’m sure he’ll be willing to talk to you. After you’ve listened to our very lucrative job proposal.” He gestured to the couch again. “Or you can continue on out the door.”

“Who are you people?” Steinberg asked defensively.

“Sit down and find out.” 0010 answered with a slightly seductive tone. Steinberg and Willis looked at each other, silently deciding what they wanted to do. Willis decided for them, sitting down again and gesturing for Steinberg to do the same. Steinberg’s eyes narrowed.

“You are government employees?” He asked. “This is a government facility?”

“Sit and find out.” 0010 said again.

“Zachary.” Willis hissed. Steinberg looked at his friend and after a while he seemed to think ‘oh hell why not’ because he sighed and sat down.

“Right, step one. We need you to sign the forms you’ll find in your files. Take your time reading them carefully. You can still walk away without signing them but you won’t get any information.” 0010 gestured to the files on the table. Slightly hesitant Willis leaned forward and picked up his. Steinberg didn’t move.

As Willis read his eyes got bigger and bigger.

“This is the official secrets act.” He whispered. Steinberg’s eyes got big and he snatched his file off the table and leafed quickly to the appropriate page. He read it through carefully looking for any indication that this wasn’t the official document. He even held it to the light to see the watermark in the document. Willis, having seen that, did the same. The home office logo was clearly displayed.

Willis let out the breath he was holding and held out his hand for a pen. He signed at the appropriate mark before handing over the pen to Steinberg. Steinberg appeared to still be reading the document as he signed it, as if he didn’t believe that this was real.

“Welcome to MI6, gentlemen.” 0010 simply said.


	13. The problems of dealing with a minor

Q looked at the young woman walking next to him. She kept shooting glances at him as if she wasn’t really sure what to make of him. Which, in fairness, wasn’t that surprising. The girl, though orphaned at the age of thirteen, had grown surprisingly sheltered. She’d lived with a loving foster family for years. It was only last year that her life had taken a turn for the worse. She’d had to move out after a nasty accident had left the father paralyzed and in need of a lot of care which had caused tensions. Her current family weren’t bad but it was obvious that, when she turned 18 the next year, she would unable to stay there. Q knew from the stories that he’d heard from the other orphans that Mansfield loved to employ, that striking out on their own had been very upsetting and he was going to make sure that Mandi wouldn’t be alone in dealing with that. He just hoped she would accept his help.

The nervousness seemed to keep her from opening up though so, with the breakroom looming on the right, Q decided to try make her feel more at ease in a typical British way.

“Tea?” He asked as he opened the door. Inside the breakroom it was moderately quiet. A couple of R’s engineers were seated at the large table while Andy and Justin were on the couches that lined the corner. All looked up as they entered but returned to their conversations after a nod in greeting.

“Please.” Mandi answered softly, appearing a little calmer with more people around. Q gestured to the chairs on the other side of the table from where the boffins were sitting. He grabbed a couple of Q-mugs, ignoring the R-mugs while sending a small smirk to R’s people because he couldn’t help himself, and poured hot water in them. The tea box and milk and sugar packets were handed over by the amused engineers and Mandi accepted them gratefully, already more at ease because the light banter.

“How are you, Ms. Parker?” He asked quietly after they had sipped their tea in silence for a while. “I apologize for the mess in the room just now. I hope you feel more at ease now?” He knew the fighting had upset her, reminded her of the fights that had broken out after her foster father’s accident.

“Yes, thank you.” Mandi said quietly. She seemed to be mulling over something because her expression seemed to sour more and more. Until finally she broke.

“Why are people always so… so… bleh.” She pulled a disgusted face that made Q smile. “I mean.” She ranted on. “If we just worked together, we could get do so many things. But _no_.” The sarcasm was dripping of her voice. “People just refuse to be nice.”

“You’ll find that adults are very flawed. And because they notice the flaws in others, they think it justifies their own behaviour.” Q responded.

“Well, it doesn’t.” Mandi sat back in her chair and crossed her arms in huff. She looked so much like the typical teenager that it made Q smile. He hoped that the passion that the girl displayed wouldn’t be completely lost as she grew up.

“So, how did you start hacking?” He asked to take her mind of things.

“Well, there was this teacher in school, just before I had to leave, that saw I was good with computers. I was having some issues with a couple of girls from my class, and he allowed me to sit in on the upper year classes whenever I had free time. Learned a lot from him. And from there it just grew, I guess. I kept in touch with him when I moved. He built the school website and challenged me to hack it. My first attempt I got in in 4 seconds because they forgot to delete my log-in codes. He was so ashamed.” Q laughed at that.

“He got me a few jobs after that.” She continued. “Some we even did together.” She fell silent after that and a sad smile played on her face.

“You lost touch?” Q asked the obvious.

“He got busy with teaching and decided to get out of the game. When the gauntlet was run, I had hoped he would get in touch with me. But I heard nothing.” She replied sadly.

“Sorry to hear that. Still, I bet you had fun with the gauntlet.” Q said once again changing the subject, trying to raise the girl’s enthusiasm back up. She smiled.

“Did you run it?” She asked a little excited.

“Well, someone had to test it.” He answered keeping his fingers crossed Mandi didn’t jump to the right conclusion straight away.

“Wait, you know GH0ST?” She exclaimed. Behind them he heard Andy and Justin snigger softly.

“Yes.” He answered. He sat back a little and fished the document he had taken out of her file out of his pocket.

“Ms Parker, before I tell you anything else, I have to ask you to sign this document. It’s called the Official Secrets Act. Read it well before you do. It is important that you follow the directions of it if you decide to sign it.” He handed over the document. The girl looked clearly startled.

“I’m a minor.” She started. “Shouldn’t I have a guardian present before I sign anything.” Q could smack himself. He should’ve remembered that dealing with a minor also meant dealing with their guardians. And that if he had wanted to avoid that he should’ve waited until she was 18. He put his head in his hand for a moment basking in his own stupidity. Then he sat up. He was just going to have to deal. 

“Yes.” He answered before asking. “Have you told your guardians where you are?”

Mandi cringed clearly answering that question.

“No.” She said. “They’re not really interested in me. I mean, they’re great people and all. But they’re trying very hard not to get attached because I have to move out in a few months. And they’re trying to make the transition easier by not keeping tabs on me. But they told me to call if I needed them. I think this applies. It’s just that they don’t know about the hacking…” She cringed again at the thought of having explain. Q thought fast. Sent a quick message of to Mycroft to confirm which got him a quick reply. He sighed in relief.

“I have a lawyer on the perimeter who can act in their stead if you don’t want to tell them. He can go over the document with you, make sure you completely understand what it says and sign in your guardians’ stead. Or,” He said making sure the girl knew all the options available to her. “I can escort you to the door and you leave, no harm done. You don’t have to sign if you’re not comfortable.” He saw the girl hesitate and mentally crossed his fingers, hoping she wouldn’t leave. He could do so much more for her if she would let him. The scholarship was hers, no matter if she signed or not. He would just approach her again when she was done with uni. But if she signed…

“It’s nothing scary.” Andy cut in, trying to reassure the scared girl. “It basically says you’re not allowed to tell anyone anything about this place and what you’ve seen and heard here.”

“We’ve all signed it when we started working here.” Justin added. The two boffins nodded in consent.

“You want me to work here? But I’m 17 and I just got a scholarship to go to university and I…” Mandi was clearly starting to panic now.

“Mandi, I need you to take a deep breath. Can you do that for me?” Q took control back of the situation. While he appreciated the others efforts it clearly wasn’t helping. Mandi nodded hesitantly. Before taking a breath. “Good now hold it. And let it out slowly.” He guided her through a few more breaths. The others, noticing they weren’t helping left the room.

“Better?” Q asked. Mandi nodded. “Good, now listen. Though recruitment is definitely the aim of today’s meeting I will not give you a job offer today. Go to university, stay out of trouble and there’s a job waiting for you when you’re done. But you impressed me and I wanted to meet you despite not being able to get you to come and work for me today.” Q said. There was a knock at the door before it opened. Q gestured for the lawyer to come in. “Now, read this through with the lawyer and if you don’t feel right about it then, for any reason, you can leave. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.” He walked towards the door, shortly explained the situation to the lawyer and left the room.

* * *

“Whidden is almost done with his testimony. MI5 has taken Pasco to lockup prior to interrogation. I have sent the tapes along with them but they will probably want the other two to testify against her.” Arabella reported, looking up from her phone as he stepped into the observation room. She had been watching the confession going on in the other room.

“Well, we can always ask.” Q answered as he watched Whidden write out his testimony in the room beyond the window. He would indeed be done soon and ready for Q to present him with the contracts. But he also needed to get back to Mandi. “Damn, this day is not going as smoothly as I would like.” Q complained.

“Hmmm, you do too much yourself as always.” Arabella commented absentmindedly. “Delegation is not your strongpoint.”

Q sighed as he always did. “True, as always. Will you take care of Whidden for me? Then I can focus on Parker until they are all ready for the tour.” Arabella nodded as she typed.

“Thank you.” He sighed in relief. He wanted to say more but was interrupted by his phone alerting. Cursing he fished it out of his pocket and looked.

“Just what we need, 001 is checking in. I need to go. I’ll be in the IT department. You take care of Whidden and have Jordan take care of Parker. Bring them all to the IT-department once they’re done. They might as well see what we want them to do eventually.” He ordered as he walked out of the room putting the phone to his ear.

“001, this is Q. I will reach a computer in 90 seconds to assist you. In the meantime, give me a status report...”

Today was going to be a long day.


	14. Q-branch IT-department

Mandi was having real doubts about what to do. In the back of her mind, she knew she shouldn’t sign this. She was only 17 for crying out loud. This wasn’t some employment contract for a side job at the local supermarket. This contract had some real consequences attached to it. Suddenly it made her feel like she wouldn’t be able to cope with this. It made her feel small and young and left her wondering how the hell she was going to survive if this was what it meant to be a grown-up.

The lawyer, Mr. Trenga, was very patient with her. Explaining very clearly what was expected of her if she signed it. Patiently answering all her stupid questions that she asked three times just to be sure she understood. However, the choice was clear. Sign and learn more and who knew, she might even get to meet GH0ST, her idol. The one she wanted to be when she grew up. Or not sign and walk away. And go back home not knowing. That was the part that was tempting her. Her idol was practically in touching distance. She could ask him questions about everything. She only had to sign.

There was a knock at the door before it opened and Jordan stepped into the room.

“How’s it going in here?” He asked.

“Ugh, I can’t decide.” She whined putting her head in her hands. Jordan chuckled and walked into the room.

“Hi, Jordan Bruskin, Q-branch IT-department.” Jordan introduced himself to Mr Trenga, shaking his hand. “So, talk me through it. I had to sign it too when I first started. Maybe I can help you decide while not influencing your decision.” He said to prevent the lawyer from objecting.

“I just don’t know. It’s just such a big decision.” She groaned. “I mean, this changes everything.” Jordan frowned.

“It isn’t that bad. You make it sound like you’re signing your life away.” Jordan asked. Mandi looked at him thinking he’d just lost him mind.

“Aren’t I? I mean have you read that thing? If you break it you could be sentenced to life in prison for treason.” She said panicky.

“Are you?” He asked her, suddenly looking serious.

Excuse me?” She asked wondering what he was talking about.

“Are you going to spill these secrets that are vital to national security?” Jordan asked again.

“Are you crazy? Of course not! But I might spill something accidentally.” She protested.

“Do you? Have you done that before? With secrets your friends asked you to keep for example? Things you wanted to keep from your parents. Because if you’ve done that before then I won’t let you sign this.” Jordan said his voice still serious. Mandi looked at him and then at Mr Trenga, panicking slightly. Jordan smiled slightly

“Relax, Mandi. I’m not asking you these things to confront you. I’m trying to help you make the right decision for you.” Jordan said before he thought about it or a moment. “Let me give you an example. I wouldn’t let my mom sign because she’s the worst gossip ever. I love her to bits but whenever she finds out something, she feels the need to share it with everyone. Once her friend came to her in tears because she found out her husband was cheating on her. My mom was a real sweetheart comforting her and everything. But the next day the whole neighbourhood knew.”

Mandi burst out into laughter. “Brilliant.” She crowed. “Is she really like that? Or were you just bullshitting me to make me laugh?”

“She really is.” Jordan chuckled and even Mr Trenga was hiding his smile in his hand. Mandi snorted and then sat back wiping tears from her eyes. If Jordan had only told that story to relax her it really helped. But the story did get her thinking. Was she like that? Had she ever told a secret, her own or someone else’s, to anyone? No, she hadn’t. Not that she’d had many friends who’s secrets she kept. But she never told anyone about the hacking, had she? And that hadn’t been such a heartache. So, why wouldn’t she able to keep national secrets. With a smile on her face, she picked up the pen and signed before handing the pen over to Mr Trenga. He signed and Jordan smiled widely and stood.

“Oh, thank god, I thought we were going to miss it all. Come on, hurry before it’s over.” He tugged her to her feet and started dragging her to the door.

“What? Where are we going?” She asked as she followed him out the door.

“GH0ST is hacking. Come on!” Jordan said speeding up.

“What?!? Why didn’t you say so? Run!” Mandi said and together they ran through the corridor.

She entered what looked like a viewing gallery behind Jordan. Three men were at the front plastered to the glass, one was the paranoid dude that she’d met before, while behind them a man in a posh suit and a business woman were sitting in chairs having a quiet conversation. She looked through the large window and her mouth dropped open. The room beyond looked like one of those control rooms you usually see in films. There were screens everywhere. Though not a lot were being used. A movie was being played on one of them, some female action hero she didn’t recognize, some other screens showed other camera’s and some other screens were filled with code, some stationary some were being worked on and one just scrolled by. 

“You see that fast moving one?” Jordan asked as he came to stand beside her. “That’s GH0ST.”

“GH0ST is actually in there?” She breathlessly asked.

“Yep.” Jordan simply said. She looked at him frowning in question.

“What is this place?” She asked suspiciously.

“This is the Q-branch IT-department. Q-branch is the technological department of MI6.” Jordan said and her mouth just dropped. Holy shit. No wonder they’d had her sign that document. But then another coin dropped and she looked at Jordan eyes widening. Q-branch IT department. That was how Jordan had introduced himself to the lawyer.

“Wait… You work here?” She asked incredulous.

“Yep.” He answered dryly.

“ _You_ work with GH0ST.” Mandi turned on him accusingly poking him in the chest. “ _You_ said GH0ST wasn’t like that. _You_ know GH0ST. You’re mean.” She finished pouting crossing her arms. Jordan burst out laughing along with the others in the room. Mandi smiled. She knew she was acting like a child but she couldn’t help it. It was either this or completely freak out because holy shit this was MI6 and GH0ST was in the room next to her. Realisation hit her again and she turned to peer at the screen that Jordan was pointing out to her. The code was scrolling by at an amazing speed. She tried to read along but all she really got was that he was hacking into some video database.

“What’s he doing?” She asked Jordan. The other three men gathered around wanting to know the answer as well.

“See that woman on the big screen?” Jordan asked pointing to the screen where the movie was playing. The woman was sneaking in somewhere. She nodded. “That’s 001. Her current mission is to sneak into a research facility in Russia that is suspected of developing biological weapons. She called in because she discovered the building has CCTV. Q is currently hacked in and guiding her to the place where the evidence is kept that she needs to collect as well as deleting the footage of her actually being there.” Mandi’s mouth dropped open. She looked at the screen where the now very real spy expertly sneaked around.

“You mean that’s real. Spies really do that shit you see in movies?” She exclaimed. Jordan chuckled.

“Well, not all of them. Only the double-0’s get those types of missions.” Jordan answered and then explained further. “You see there are four levels of agents. You have the junior agents. They’ve just finished the basic training course and are hired but they need further training before they can go out into the field. Once they pass that training, they become B-level agents and get a number that they use instead of their names in reports. B-level agents get low risk missions. Making contact with allies, delivering information, transporting goods to agents in the field, that sort of thing. They reach A-level once they have enough experience or specialist skills to be able to run higher level missions. Body guarding officials, tailing people and the like. Now double-0 agents are to spies what the special forces are to soldiers. They have a licence to kill, get the dangerous missions or the missions where there are many unknowns and use whatever means necessary to get the job done. There are only ten of them at the most, 001 to 0010. Currently there are 8. 008 died over a year ago from acute radiation sickness after keeping some radioactive waste out of the hands of terrorists who were going to build a dirty bomb with it. 004 died the day of the explosion in the old headquarters a few months ago. She belonged to an international team that didn’t exist officially. They died as they were freeing the ambassador to Georgia.” Mandi swallowed convulsively.

“They sound dangerous.” She commented with a tight voice. Jordan shrugged his shoulders.

“They can be. They know how to kill and have done so countless times. But they also know how not to kill. Unless you give them a reason, they will treat you as any other. Besides, unless specifically introduced as such, I can assure you, you wouldn’t know if you were dealing with one. They are undercover experts after all. They can pretend to be anyone, from the hooker on the corner of the street and the millionaire playboy wasting his money in a casino right down to the businessman lounging in the back of the room. Isn’t that right, 0010?”


	15. Enjoy the show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to monad_damon on twitch for the help on the chapter.
> 
> If you want to come and have a chat while I write these chapter, find me on twitch: littlemissrose85. I'm usually there around 20.30 CET.

Jordan smirked as he watched Mandi freeze in place and then slowly turn around. 0010 was lounging back in his chair observing their little talk while also keeping half an eye on 001’s mission. Mandi gulped and started to shuffle a bit towards him as if he could protect her if the agent decided to go on a killing spree. He chuckled at the absurd idea of him stopping a double-0.

“Careful Jordan, you’re spending too much time with us if you start getting enjoyment out of startling your companions like that.” 0010’s voice, smooth as silk, was coloured with amusement. Jordan winced a little because amusement to a double-0 meant bruises for him in the training room.

“True.” He admitted with a grin.

Then a voice came over the speaker that had previously been off. “Jordan, I need you in here. Bring the others if they can keep quiet.” Q’s voice echoed through the room alerting him.

“Yes, Sir.” He answered, his previous mischief immediately forgotten and without looking at the others walked into the department. His station had been set up right before the main screen that, just like in the old set-up in HQ, showed an overview of all their activity. Unlike HQ, Q had a desk of his own, right beside his. It was covered with 4 monitors that he had set up as a monitoring station. One showed the security feeds from inside the building, one kept track of all happenings on the server and the other two he was currently using for his mission. Jordan sat behind his desk and logged in.

“What do you need?” He asked as he opened a prompt screen in anticipation of Q’s request. He didn’t know if he would need it, but it didn’t use up a lot of memory and he could always close it later.

“Personnel is trying to make a new account on the server. I need you to make it look like it failed due to a common error.” Q didn’t look up from his work as he made his request but Jordan hadn’t expected him to. Common courtesy had no place when you worked as hard as Q did. “I don’t know who they are making an account for and I want to run a background check before we let them make it but I don’t have the time right now… 001, two coming from the right-hand corridor ahead of you. The room to your left is unlocked and empty, please make use of it.”

“Yes, Sir.” Jordan said and had a bit of a think. How could he make it look like the server couldn’t make the account? He couldn’t simply crash the server, like if he forced an update, because it was needed for so many other jobs. But maybe he could force an error in the account registration procedure. First things first. He searched the logs for the IP-address of the computer that was making the account. He needed to know where they were in the registration procedure. Thinking a bit more he decided that if Q wanted to run a background check he needed as much information as possible. Running through the procedure mentally he remembered the last step was password creation. Jordan grinned. There was a lot that could go wrong with that. He got to work quickly because personnel were almost done already.

Luckily it required very little. Just a couple of digits. He opened the scripts, looked for the password procedure and scanned carefully for new password creation, making sure to leave the changing password procedure intact. He found the entry requirements and changed them. Normally a password required at least 10 characters with 3 capital letters and 2 numbers and a special character. Jordan simply placed a zero extra behind all those numbers making the password requirements simply too ridiculous to imagine. It also didn’t change the requirements shown to the user because that was in another script. So, personnel would be stuck on what was wrong. Perfect. He quickly saved the changes and closed the code, activating it just in time.

“Got it.” He reported. “They’re unable to make a password to give access, but will still be able to save all the data for us to run a background check.”

“Good.” Q replied and refocussed on 001 who was very near her target. Jordan looked over his shoulder. Ophelia was standing with the other hackers, talking so quietly to them that Jordan couldn’t hear them. Figuring he wasn’t officially on duty at the moment and could be missed he got up to join them.

* * *

Jason walked into the department in awe. The monitors were showing some of the most complicated coding he had ever seen. He’d thought his work for the mafia had been top notch but it was nothing compared to this. No wonder MI6 was considered the top spy-agency in the world. And this was where he was going to work. He couldn’t believe his luck.

This day was turning out to be one of the most stressful in his life and he’d been on the run from the mafia so that was saying something. After spilling all his secrets to MI5 he had waited nervously for the man to return. The lawyer had been called away but had assured him he had seen the contract and that it was good. Luckily, he’d only waited for a minute before the door opened and the woman walked in. She had apologized that the man, who was apparently named Q, had been called away to deal with an emergency. She dealt with the paperwork with an efficiency that would put every secretary to shame before leading him back to the other room.

The girl had been gone when he got there. Worry had flashed through him. She was so young. He just hoped they would treat her well. There were three men in the room beside the one he knew. The gentleman was obviously part of MI6 and judging from the familiar folders lying on the table the others were his new colleagues. Then followed a whirlwind of things because apparently GH0ST was hacking which led to all of them assembling here. Then the guy Jordan -who apparently worked here, bloody spooks- had been called inside to work his magic. He was good, Jason thought. Quick. Efficient.

“This is awesome.” Mandi whispered excitedly. A woman chuckled as she walked up to them.

“Thank you.” She said. “We do our best, although we are rather understaffed at the moment so we’re very glad you’re here. Ophelia Warner, department head.” She introduced herself quietly and shook hands with everyone.

“Good to meet you.” Matias, call me Matt, Willis answered warmly. “The work you do here is amazing.”

“We have Q to thank for that.” Warner answered.

“Q?” Jason asked.

“He is head of Q-branch, or he should be and we just keep treating him as such until the government pulls it’s head out of it’s arse and reinstates him. You would know him as GH0ST.”

“What?!?” Mandi’s voice echoed through the room gaining her a lot of angry looks though the two men up front didn’t seem to notice. Mandi blushed and continued her freak-out on a much lower volume. “You mean to say I’ve met him? I met GH0ST. And I didn’t know.” Two of the men behind the computers chuckled as they heard what she said but otherwise didn’t comment. Jason however was sharing the sentiment. That man who had given him a chance had been GH0ST.

“I wouldn’t know but if you met Q then yes you did.” Warner answered warmly.

“Oh wow.” Mandi looked a little faint. “I met GH0ST.” She whispered. “I met GH0ST and he said I impressed him. This is the happiest day of my life.” That last sentence she almost squealed and she very silently performed a happy dance. Jason chuckled along with the others.

“What are our job requirements going to be?” The serious man who had introduced himself as Zachary Steinberg asked.

“Our original plan was to develop handler teams to guide agents through their missions like Q is currently doing with 001.” Jason felt himself go pale and glanced behind him to where the double-0 agent was lounging against the wall near the door. The thought of talking to and giving orders to one of those killing machines did not appeal at all. It meant that he would see people die and maybe even order the agent to kill them. Even the thought of it went against everything he believed in.

“Don’t worry too much. You won’t have to deal with the double-0’s.” Warner assured them warmly. “Q and R have already said they would take those missions. No, you will only deal with B and A-level agents. Besides you are not expected to lead the agent. We will hire people qualified for that. You will provide them with the information they need quickly, no matter what the source is. This is why your hacking skills will be crucial.” Jason still had serious doubts but didn’t voice them. He had signed a contract after all. He wouldn’t go back on his word now. But Warner wasn’t done.

“Unfortunately, the current situation has required us to put those plans on hold for now. However, like I said we are currently very understaffed and your contributions in other areas will certainly be helpful.” Jason frowned wondering what situation she was talking about but Warner didn’t elaborate further.

Jordan, done with whatever GH0ST had asked him to do, walked up to them.

“Enjoying the show?” He asked looking at Mandi in particular. The young girl started poking him again.

“ _You_ didn’t tell me. I made an ass of myself in front of my idol. You’re mean.” She pouted again but her eyes were twinkling brightly. Jordan winced as the girl poked him rather hard in the arm but he was grinning.

“Yes well, I thought it best if you met him first before you went all fangirl on him. He really doesn’t like it.” He answered. Mandi scowled.

“Stop being so rational I still want to be mad at you.” She said giving him one final poke. Jordan chuckled.

“Anyways. How about I give you a tour. There’s much more to see here.” Jason nodded along with Matt and Zachery but Mandi hesitated, looking longingly at the big screen up front.

“Or you can stay here with us and watch.” Warner said warmly, smiling at the girl who lit up like a candle. Jordan chuckled again and motioned them to follow him.


	16. A line crossed.

“IT-department, Ophelia Warner speaking, how can I help you?” Jordan looked up from his work as he shamelessly listened in on the one-sided conversation behind him. “Ah, and you’re sure the password matched the requirements listed?” Ophelia continued and Jordan turned to face her, hoping to signal to her not to fix the problem. He had been waiting for this call ever since he had created the bug in the system yesterday. Q only had had a brief moment to chat with the hackers after he had finished with 001’s mission. Then Arabella had whisked him away for an important briefing. He hadn’t come in since then. R had confirmed what Jordan had expected. Q was recovering from his 4-day work-bender and wouldn’t be in until tomorrow.

“And you’re sure it isn’t in just one account?” Ophelia asked. “It’s happened four times now? No, I can see why you’re frustrated. It sounds like an easy enough problem to fix.” Ophelia said despite the frantic signalling he did. Iris and Darnell were looking at him like he was crazy. Or too tired to work, since he had been pulling a double shift today in Q’s absence and the other hackers not starting until tomorrow. And he was tired. Anyone would be after 12 hours. But since the gauntlet he knew it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

“I’ll get someone right on it. Thank you for reporting it.” Ophelia disconnected the call. Jordan groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“What?” Ophelia asked irritated that Jordan had bothered her during a phone call.

“I was signalling you. Telling you to stall. You weren’t supposed to say it was an easy fix.” Jordan whined.

“What?” Ophelia asked, genuinely confused now.

“I programmed that bug in yesterday. Q’s orders. He wanted to run a background check before he let them into the system.” Jordan explained.

“What?!?” Ophelia almost shouted.

“You heard me.” Jordan answered back a bit grumpily. It wasn’t his fault that Q didn’t have the time to run those checks. It was supposed to be an easy job.

“You mean you sabotaged the server on Q’s orders.” Ophelia asked, eyes narrowing.

“Well, sabotaged was a big word.” Jordan answered. “Only the new passwords are affected so it doesn’t impede operations.”

“Does R know he asked you to do this? Did she give permission?” Ophelia asked startling Jordan. He hadn’t thought of it that way.

“I don’t know. It was a rush job because they were already almost done with the registration. And I don’t know if Q had the time to talk it through with R before he was whisked away.” Jordan pondered out loud. And if Q hadn’t talked to R, he was screwed. Because R was in charge at the moment, not Q.

“Right, we’re going to R and get this cleared up.” Ophelia took action before he could start to feel even more guilty about this. “This bug? It’s easy to fix, right?” She asked as they walked to the door.

“Sure, I just changed a couple of digits.” Jordan replied.

“Good, we’ll get this sorted out. If personnel calls again, I’ll just say that the fault is more difficult to fix than predicted. Don’t worry too much.” Ophelia said to reassure him.

* * *

She listened stone-faced as Jordan explained what Q had asked of him and how he had done it. But inside she was fuming. And she couldn’t really blame Q. That was the bad part. It was all circumstance that had kept her out of the loop. Still, this was exactly what she had been afraid of. She knew the fault was minor and didn’t impede operations much but she still felt a line had been crossed somehow.

She sighed and buried her face in her hands for a moment. The anxiety this whole move had been causing her was not good. She was still recovering from burn-out for god’s sake. She should be taking it easy, not taking on more and more hours and responsibilities. Again, she couldn’t blame Q exactly. It wasn’t his fault that he had been relieved of his duty as quartermaster. And she knew he felt guilty about it, she had seen him looking at her and guild flash over his face. It didn’t help any though.

But now she had to decide what to do with this. But choosing felt impossible. Because if she told Jordan to undo the changes, she might put the agency in danger. But if she allowed this to go on, what then? She doubted Q would stop at this if this situation continued or, god forbid, got worse. How far would Q go in the name of keeping them safe? Would he honestly force her to pull that trigger?

‘Stop it.’ She chided herself. Those thoughts were not helpful. She needed to focus on this problem and make an informed decision about what to do. And therein lay the clue. She needed information. She sat up, knowing what to do.

“Thank you, Ophelia for bringing this to my attention. Please return to the department. Leave the fault in for now. If personnel calls back, stall them. Tell them the fault wasn’t what you’d initially thought and you are looking into it or something. Before you return however, could you please find 0010 for me and ask him to come here? I’d like his opinion on this matter. And, as this is an IT problem, I’d like you to remain as well, Jordan. I could use your advice.” The young man before her relaxed marginally while Ophelia got to her feet and left the room.

She relaxed back in her chair and closed her eyes, trying to relax a little with the techniques she had been practicing while she was away. But the relief wouldn’t come. Cursing under her breath she opened her eyes again and saw Jordan look at her worriedly.

“Are you all right, ma’am?” He asked.

“Just tired.” She responded. “Don’t worry.”

“But I am worried, ma’am. Last time you looked this tired we had to manage without you for months. Please tell me you’ll take a few days soon. While you still can.” Jordan pleaded.

“I doubt I’ll have that luxury.” She said though she couldn’t hide the longing from her voice. Just a few days to potter around in Wiggin’s second basement to get her mind off all this sounded like heaven.

“You’ll just have to make it happen ma’am.” Jordan answered back stubbornly. He sat back and crossed his arms as if to say he was going to make it happen for her if she didn’t make the effort.

She was saved from replying by a short knock.

* * *

The door opened and the agent strolled into the room. He looked as calm as ever, but Jordan doubted he felt that way. He had gotten to know 0010 quite well during their training sessions. The man was a professional all the freaking time. If you generally looked at him all you saw was the bland mask similar to the one Q would use whenever he didn’t want to be noticed. But Jordan had sat beside Ormond and had kept an eye on him ever since he had started working for MI6 and had learned to notice the tiny hints of what the man was really feeling. The agent was no different. The main impression Jordan had so far of the man was that he was generally bored. Very, very bored. Boredom he had relieved in the training room. Well, Jordan had been happy to help there. The last two days however none of that boredom had shown. Instead, the agent had appeared alert and irritated. Both things Jordan could understand. The agent was on a mission after all. But this was hardly a mission worthy of a double-0 at the moment.

“You asked to see me.” The agent said as he seated himself calmly. But Jordan got a hint of irritation at having been summoned like this.

“Yes.” R said. “Some things have been brought to my attention that I need to make a decision on. Your insights would be helpful.” Jordan frowned, R playing information close to her vest wouldn’t help in any fashion here. Because two could play that game and 0010 was better at it than she was. He wasn’t going to divulge information to her if she didn’t do the same.

“Insights into what exactly?” The agent asked just like Jordan had expected him to. The man sat back in his chair with an air that held a hint of amusement. Jordan wanted to groan and slap the agent. If he played games and put even more stress on R, Jordan was going to make him pay for that in the training room sometime soon. Or at least as much as he could.

“The current state of affairs regarding MI6 and Q-branch. What can you tell me about them?” R asked.

“What makes you think I know anything about it?” The agent said casually. Jordan shot him an annoyed look which was pointedly ignored.

“Because M would have briefed you before coming here. I would like to hear the information he discussed with you.” R sounded like she had to fight to stay calm.

“I hate to disappoint.” The agent began sounding anything but disappointed to Jordan. “But the briefing I got from M was not exactly enlightening. The gest of it was just keep an eye on things here and help out where you can. He tried to hide it in many words but he didn’t know anything about what was going on either.” Which was the truth, Jordan concluded. A truth 0010 had no problem parting with as it served to rile up R even more. And it worked because R looked ready to explode. It was time to put an end to this.

“And what have you learned since then?” He asked sharply.


	17. Turning the tables

The question startled R and she looked up at him in surprise. Jordan looked piercingly at the other agent who looked back with a smile that was all teeth. Such a smile might look disarming on normal people but it always made the double-0’s resemble sharks and 0010 was no better. But Jordan had spent months in the company of double-0 agents and such a look didn’t do anything for him anymore.

“What makes you think I learned anything?” The man simply asked, showing a little more genuine interest in him than he had in R.

“Because you’re a double-0 agent. You stick your nose into everything as a routine, just to keep your feet wet.” Jordan answered drily. “More than that you’re on a mission right now. A mission you’ve started underinformed. You’ve had 48 hours, plenty of time to acquire additional information. But most of all, you were speaking to Arabella yesterday. And she definitely knows what’s going on. I doubt she gave you much but considering your clearance she might have given you something.” He saw 0010’s amusement grow, clearly enjoying his answer. However, he still was only amused and didn’t see the need yet to share what he knew. But Jordan knew just how to entice the agent into sharing. “We require that information for judgement call.” He said.

“Judgement on what?” 0010 asked with a hint of intrigue colouring his voice. Like a fish being drawn in by the smell of the bait. And now to catch his prey.

“Treason.” He said and he saw the agent go on high alert. If Q were anywhere near headquarters right now Jordan wouldn’t have used that word. Too much of a risk that the agent would have felt compelled to use his licence to kill.

“Jordan!” R exclaimed in panic because she had also seen the reaction. “You know as well as I do that Q didn’t commit treason.” But Jordan wasn’t done yet.

“When it comes down to it, that is what we’re here to determine, isn’t it?” He needled just a bit longer. “To judge whether Q has taken things too far? If he has, that could be considered treason. Only by knowing what’s going on can we take the right actions. Which 0010 needed to understand in order for him to divulge anything.” R looked at him like he had grown a second head. And somewhere in the back of his mind he felt slightly bad for throwing Q under the bus a bit. But no one was getting hurt by his words and needs must. He was sure Q would understand.

“You’ve got my attention, well played.” 0010 actually sounded impressed.

“Thank you.” Jordan replied before raising an eyebrow expectedly.

“I don’t know much.” 0010 started, only a hint of the irritation he must be feeling about the situation tainting his voice. “All Arabella told me was that, though an official press release is still in the making, the merger between MI5 and 6 was officially approved yesterday. The head of the new Joint Security Service is going to be Max Denbigh. He isn’t trusted. Why? She didn’t say but until concrete evidence is found against him, they have to give him the benefit of the doubt. All I know about his plans is that there is talk about a new program, that is to replace the Double-0 program. And that is all I’ve learned which I doubt is of much use to you.” The agent sat back and relaxed.

“This Arabella you’re talking about. Who is she?” R asked frowning at both of them. Jordan wondered just how out of control about the situation she was feeling. 0010 looked at him, an eyebrow raised. But he had no idea if he was allowed to reveal who Arabella was. He knew 001 had told the other double-0’s, but that was before Arabella’s name had changed. He sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket. 0010’s eyes widened minutely.

“You have her number?” He asked surprised.

“Yes.” Jordan answered absentmindedly as scrolled through his phone looking for it. She hadn’t given it to him, but she had called him once so he had to search his call log for it.

“Do you work for her?” The agent’s eyes narrowed slightly. Jordan looked up in surprise.

“No. What makes you say that?” He asked. The eyebrows of the agent rose even more.

“Very few people know that number and usually only those that work for her. It’s expected for her to call you, not the other way around.” 0010 explained. Jordan hesitated for a moment before his training kicked in. Never hesitate, 001 had told him, unless expressly forbidden all options are on the table.

“She never said I couldn’t call.” Jordan answered and 0010 grinned knowingly and made a small go-ahead gesture with his head. Jordan refused to hesitate again and dialled the number. The call was answered immediately.

“Yes?” Arabella asked.

“We are in need of information to pass judgement on Q’s actions.” Jordan relayed simply. He knew Arabella was busy and dancing around the issue would not be appreciated.

“What information is needed?” Arabella asked.

“The current state of affairs regarding the merger and the people involved in it.” Jordan requested.

“Hold for a moment please.” He heard before the line went silent. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long before the line became live again.

“10 minutes.” Was all she said before the line disconnected. Jordan frowned at his phone.

“She said 10 minutes.” He reported shrugging his shoulders.

“My, you do know how to make things entertaining.” 0010 chuckled.

“Are you finally going to answer my question now?” R asked really straining to keep the impatience out of her voice. Jordan hesitated for second.

“Go ahead.” 0010 said. “If she’s getting involved it’s going to come out anyway.” Jordan nodded. The agent had a good point. He turned to R.

“You’ve met her.” Jordan answered R’s question. “You know her as Faith.”

“That woman who was tailing Q as part of his probation? She was here yesterday with the MI5 agents. I’m guessing she isn’t one of them?” R asked.

“No, she’s not.” Jordan answered. “Her current name is Arabella and she is the Director’s Assistant.”

R’s mouth dropped open just as there was a knock on the door.


	18. Unexpected meetings

The door opened immediately but instead of the expected womanly figure of the Assistant a man was in standing in the door opening.

“Oh Christ, what now?” Kimberlee mumbled to herself. This day had been one unpleasant surprise after another and she wasn’t sure if she could deal with much more without losing her temper. She saw Jordan’s eye widen and he shot to his feet immediately.

“Director” He exclaimed which made her eyes widen as well and she quickly stood. What was the most important man in the British Government doing in her office?

The Director stopped just inside the office and surveyed them with a look of mild disinterest on his face. Nothing could be read from it. The iceman. Kim had heard rumours about him. The one who made things happen. The enforcer behind the scenes. The fixer. Was he here to take control over the branch? Give orders to them? But they were a private company now, one that she had control over. His eyes however, landed on Jordan.

“Agent Bruskin. Kindly go with my Assistant, she has a task for you.” Wait a minute? Agent? Jordan wasn’t an agent, was he? But then she noticed a slight shift in the young man before her. He seemed to become more relaxed but more focussed at the same time. It was almost like she was in a room with two double-0’s. When did that happen? R wondered how much more she had missed about what was going on in her branch.

“Yes, Sir.” Agent Bruskin replied and walked to the door. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Call me if you need me.” He said and then he was gone. Kim sat back down and watched the Director as he walked towards the chair Jordan had just vacated and sat in it. The umbrella that he had been using as a walking stick playing in his hand as he studied the agent beside him. Everything about the man made him look deliberately imposing and Kim was disgruntled to admit it was working. She didn’t intimidate easily. The double-0’s didn’t do much of anything to her no matter how much they tried because she knew it was just posturing. M and Q impressed her more, M simply because he was her boss and Q… Well… Q just had this air about him. Quite similar to the Director come to think of it. An air that made you believe they were capable of anything you could imagine, great and terrible. Though where with Q it was understated, like he was trying to hide it, this man seemed to just exhume it. And quite frankly it was terrifying.

0010 however, clearly wasn’t as intimidated as she was. That said the agent was certainly affected. Gone was the aloof air of indifference. The sheep’s clothing was off and in its wake was a wolf who was growling and snarling and warning the Director away. Or at least it seemed to Kim that way. The agent sat in his chair stiffly and openly glared at the other man who was studying him calmly. They seemed to be in a stand-off just staring at each other like that. Finally, the Director nodded.

“I will respect your wishes.” He said. The agent continued to glare at him for a while until finally he rained it in a little and nodded once tersely. The Director gave no response to that but turned towards her. Kim felt exposed to his intense gaze, like he was reading her like an open book.

“Mrs. Tanner.” He greeted her just as, or maybe even a bit more coldly as he had greeted Jordan. His tone irked Kim and fanned the flame of courage in her chest which had been stifled by his arrival. Who was he to judge her?

“Director.” She answered calmly meeting his gaze head on.

“If you could please explain to me what Q has done to require such scrutiny?” The man asked emotionlessly.

“Q asked Jordan Bruskin to program a bug into the server. It prevented the MI6 personnel department from completing the creation of a new account because they failed to make a password. It was my understanding that Q wanted to run a background check. However, he was sent home before he could and now another three accounts are incomplete because of that fault. Personnel has been in touch with us and we are stalling them at the moment. I won’t be able to do so forever and Q isn’t due back till tomorrow morning.”

“And how will the information you’ve requested aid you in this?” He raised his finger stalling her immediate answer. “Think carefully of how you answer this question. This is highly classified intelligence you’ve requested and it will not be given lightly.” R, who had indeed been about to answer his question snapped her mouth shut, thinking things through first.

Her gut instinct was to say she needed it to know where to draw the line. How much leeway to give Q. But the Director would counter that argument by saying he could make that judgement call for her. But that wasn’t what this was all about. Q had given her a task. To shoot him if he ever crossed the line. They had had many discussions together, especially after he had been dismissed as quartermaster. That simple comment that was meant to put her at ease when they had first met had taken on a whole new meaning. Because she knew now that Q was scared, genuinely afraid of what he could do. He knew there was a line and, though he hadn’t told her about it, it sounded like he crossed it on a few occasions. Q wanted her to protect the agency (the country, maybe even the world) from _him_. And right now, she couldn’t do that.

“Q has given me a task.” She started.

“I know of it.” The Director interrupted her immediately. R stared at him for a bit before glancing at 0010 who was observing the interaction with his calm physique back in place. Obviously, the Director did not want the agent to know what Q had asked her to do. She gritted her teeth at being confronted by yet another mystery in her branch before she took a deep breath accepted it for the moment and recalibrated.

“In order to perform it, and to perform my duty as head of Q-branch, I have to think of what is best for MI6 and for our country. Now I understand that Q’s current actions are low risk but reading Q’s responses over the last week there is a high chance that Q’s current actions are only the beginning. These actions are against decisions our government have chosen to make. Q expects me to stand by and watch as he works to undermine those decisions and I won’t do that without a damn good reason.”

“You do understand that he can work around you in a heartbeat. He doesn’t need your approval to act.” The twitch of the eye and the slight drawl of his voice showed minutely how disgusted the director was with the idea of Q asking approval from her.

“Yes, he can and he has or that fault wouldn’t have made it into the system without my knowledge. But he wants it for his ease of mind and I can’t function as the head of this organisation if he keeps undermining me and I don’t want to cause a wedge within the branch. There are already people feeling divided between the loyalty they feel to Q and their loyalty to MI6 which is unnecessary and dangerous. Right now, we need to show a united front.” Kim felt she was pleading to a brick wall. This was useless. The Director obviously was thoroughly against the idea of her having any power over Q’s actions.

“I understand your concerns, Mrs. Tanner.” The Director started. “However, Q is not part of your command. And any arangement he and you have made are ultimately personal and not a reason to up your security clearance.” Kim gritted her teeth at his decision and opened her mouth to argue but the Director held up a hand. “Arguing about it is entirely pointless and I have no time to listen to it. As this business is now concluded I have another issue I have to deal with before I leave.” The Director turned as if to dismiss her making her feel ready to explode. She wasn’t the only one because the Director once again turned to 0010 who stiffened again and glared at the other man.

“0010, what is your professional opinion about Agent Bruskin?”


	19. Evaluation

Jordan sat in a chair being thoroughly fed up with it all. A task, the Director had said. She had a task for him to do. Well screw that. He hadn’t even seen Arabella yet and it had already been an hour and a half. This wasn’t a task, this was a barrage of tests. To what purpose he didn’t know and no one was answering any of his questions.

The door to the small interrogation room opened and a doctor of some sorts came in carrying yet another clipboard to make notes on. It was the third doctor he had seen today and the 6th person carrying one of those bloody clipboards. First at the test range where he was put through drills with one of the guns that clearly was still in development. His range scores were normally much better than these were and he had scolded the boffin for the inaccuracies before adjusting to them and doing much better on the second round. Then there were a whole bunch of physical examinations and tests, one was a close combat simulation with two men who were ridiculously undertrained. He had hoped sincerely that they were simply holding back but that hope had diminished as he put them on the floor again and again. And now he had just sat here, waiting for 20 minutes already for what appeared to be more tests.

“Agent Bruskin. We are going to start with some word-associations.” The man said without looking up from his clipboard. Jordan looked at him grumpily. “Please say the first word that comes mind. MI6.”

Jordan just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not quite believing this was actually happening. No wonder the double-0’s thought psych evaluations were ridiculous. What did he expect for an answer here? Did he expect Jordan to admit to treason to his face or something?

The man looked up when no answer came and appeared to become angry as Jordan looked at him incredulously.

“Do take this seriously, Agent Bruskin.” He chided like he was admonishing a child which only gained him an even more incredulous look from Jordan as well as a snort. The man ignored him and simply gave him the next word.

“Computer.” Jordan snorted again and then started sniggering. This was ridiculous.

“What is so funny?” The man asked which simply caused Jordan to laugh harder. It seemed to rile up the psychologist more and more which only made it more hilarious until the man got up and left leaving a laughing Jordan alone in the room.

It took a few minutes before he got his laughter under control and then a few tries more because the situation was so funny. Once that was over, he sat back in his chair, studying his fingernails, bored out of his skull. There was so much work to do and here he was, just waiting. But there was nothing to be done about it. He knew he was clearly not in control of the situation so the only thing he could do was wait. Whatever was going to happen would happen and until it happened, he would sit here and be ready for whatever was going to come.

The door opened and he was called out of the room, led through the corridor by an unfamiliar woman to another door and bade to enter. This room was bigger but just as bare as the last one. A row of tables was sat at the end, behind which 7 people were seated in the shadows. A chair sat in front of it with a single light above it. Jordan waited by the door, relaxed and focussed.

“Sit down, Agent Bruskin.” The woman in the middle, who sounded exactly like Arabella ordered.

Jordan, still feeling a bit stroppy, ambled over to the chair and plopped himself down, crossing his arms and challengingly looking at the men and women assembled at the other side of the table. The light over his head made it difficult to see them in the shadows.

“Final Evaluation of Agent Bruskin. First we start with Range scores.” Arabella said opening a file. Jordan startled. Why was he being evaluated now? He wasn’t ready for that yet, was he? Well, obviously someone thought he was or he wouldn’t be here. He wondered why he was being fast tracked.

“Range scores are adequate.” Jordan scoffed internally. Adequate. If he had his own gun they would be bloody good. “Adaptation to an uncalibrated weapon well within limits.” And they knew they had given him a faulty weapon too. Bastards.

“Physical.”

“Agent Bruskin scored above expectations on all levels. Which begs the question why I was underinformed? I thought we were dealing with a first-time evaluation?” The man answered.

“You have failed to read the entire briefing, Lieutenant Hale.” Arabella asked, not sounding impressed.

“No, I read it. It said first time evaluation.” Lieutenant Hale defended himself calmly. Idiot, Jordan thought.

“Who was the instructor listed, Lieutenant?” Arabella asked, sounding even less impressed. The man leafed through his papers.

“A Miss Stephanie Majercik. The name was unfamiliar so I assumed she was new.” Jordan shook his head in earnest now, sniggering at the thought. Arabella sounded irritated when she answered.

“You assumed wrong, Lieutenant. In the future you would do well to investigate a name you don’t know. If you had done so in this instance you would have noticed the name was classified to you which should have given you some indications and should have sparked you to make further inquiries. I expect you to do so in the future. Am I understood?” The man didn’t sputter at all which earned him a point in Jordan’s eyes. He simply replied. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Psychological.” Arabella was shorter and more curtly in her manner than Jordan was used to and she exhumed the air of a distant professional. But, most surprisingly of all, she wasn’t typing on her phone. That probably explained the first two things.

“Mr. Bruskin refused to cooperate with my examination. It is my professional opinion he is unsuited for fieldwork.” The man who had answered so haughtily was clearly the same guy who had tried to give him that bloody word test. Clearly, he had hurt the man’s feelings somehow. Jordan scoffed. He called himself a psychologist yet he took such a thing personal. And apparently, Arabella agreed with him.

“Dr Montgomery. Just because an agent refuses to cooperate does not automatically disqualify him from fieldwork. Especially not when that agent had to wait 20 minutes for you and then you fail to even look at him. You might be one of the top psychiatrists and leading expert in the field of neuro science but your personal skills leave a lot to be desired. From now on you will send a psychologist trained for evaluations. This is your only warning. Any more contact with agents and I will have you fired. That is if the agent doesn’t kill you.”

“I beg your pardon.” The psychiatrist sputtered. “It is my professional opinion that Agent Bruskin is unfit for fieldwork. You can’t just ignore that simply because you don’t like the answer. And if you continue to do so I will go to M about this.”

“And M will say exactly what I want him to say. You forget your place, Dr Montgomery. Try to avoid doing so in the future. You might still have a career at the end of the day.” Montgomery looked like he was going to object again but Lieutenant Hale, who was sat next to him kicked him in the shin viciously before whispering in his ear. That shut the doc up nicely.

“Does anyone else have anything to add.” Arabella asked shortly. Most people shook their head quickly but one raised a shaky hand. The kind and somewhat cowed woman from personnel had gone through the details of his career with him and Jordan was surprised she dared to speak up to Arabella who appeared on a warpath.

“Begging your pardon, Ma’am. But I noticed some evaluations were missing. For example: there is no participation to escape and evasion training and interrogation resistance.” And that was why Jordan was so surprised that this was happening now. He knew there were several area’s in which he still required training.

“These skills will not be necessary for Agent Bruskin to have for what we have entailed for him.” At this Jordan perked up because that was information. They had a mission for him. That’s why he was being evaluated.

“I expect these oversights will be remedied?” One of the others asked.

“Unfortunately, there is no such training for agents planned for the foreseeable future.” Arabella added.

“That would be a shame.” Lieutenant Hale said. “Agent Bruskin shouldn’t be held back simply because of something so simple." To Jordan it sounded like he had actually impressed the Lieutenant. "There’s a special forces selection class preparing for both those courses in two weeks. He could be on there.” Oh shit, maybe he had impressed him a bit too much. The thought of being put in with a bunch of potential SAS and SBS soldiers was simply terrifying.

“We don’t know if Agent Bruskin will be available at that time.” Arabella said. “Should he be then he will off course participate.” Not that he had a choice apparently. Because that was his life now and he was grudgingly starting to get used to not being in control of it. Maybe that was all part of being an agent.

“What about his psychological evaluation?” Dr Montgomery spoke up. The man sounded almost cowed, not arrogant as he was before.

“Those who have observed him extensively over a period of a month say he is ready.” Arabella answered with a finality that left no room for argument.

“I have no further comment.” The doc grouched quietly.

“Then it is decided.” Arabella said.

“Number 53 has just come available.” The woman from personnel said. 

“Congratulations agent A53. Please return to R’s office where you’ll be expected for a briefing.” Jordan had so many questions but he shoved them all back. They would be answered later.

“Yes Ma’am.” He said and left the room.


	20. Breakfast at Mycroft’s… again

Q opened his eyes and looked at the clock. It was 4.30 in the morning. He sighed and stretched. His room in Mycroft’s home was just as it was the last time. He grimaced at the antique furniture that so differed from the style of his own home. He knew the moment Arabella had gotten her claws into him he wouldn’t be sleeping in his own bed. Damn his interfering brother, who was probably waiting downstairs for him. He sighed and got up, knowing delaying was not an option at the moment. The situation was much too volatile for nothing to have happened the last 36 hours.

After showering and dressing he found Mycroft at the breakfast table. There was toast on his plate and a grapefruit on his brother’s. Q winced. Christ what a time to start on a diet.

“Sherlock’s still bored then?” He asked as he took his place and started to butter the toast. Mycroft didn’t look up from his paper, probably to avoid the grapefruit on his plate.

“Yes, he has started a Paris branch of his homeless network just to keep himself occupied. He hopes to learn where Moriarty’s men have run off to.” Mycroft tried to reply lightly from behind his paper but Q heard the tightness in his voice and he could imagine the grimace that matched it. Sherlock was very bored then to needle Mycroft to this extend.

“If you want, I can take him back.” He offered knowing it wouldn’t be accepted anyway.

“No, I need your focus here.” Mycroft answered immediately. Q conceded with a simple nod. He knew arguing that Mycroft also needed his attention here and not be aggravated by Sherlock was pointless. Mycroft would always take care of them at the cost of his own health and happiness.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they were in London.” He said instead, getting back on track.

“They are.” Mycroft answered. Q looked up at him in surprise. He wanted to ask why he hadn’t informed Sherlock of that but he knew the answer to that question. Mycroft was doing everything in his power to ensure that Sherlock would not come home now.

“You talked to John I take it?” He asked instead. At Mycroft’s confirming hum he asked. “How’d that go?”

“Captain Watson’s commission is reactivated and he re-enlisted into the RAMC.” Q’s startled.

“What?” He asked, his half-eaten toast momentarily forgotten. Mycroft finally folded away the paper to look at him. He grimaced at the sight of his grapefruit and Q offered him his other piece of toast which Mycroft gave a longing stare but declined anyway.

“The first thing John asked after I told him was to get him out of London.” Mycroft reported. “He was very upset and angry told me to get him out or arrest him for murder. He’s currently in Wales as one of the medics for a group of trainees.” Q sighed. He should’ve known that Dr Watson wouldn’t take this calmly.

“Well at least he’s safe.” He said. Mycroft hummed around his grapefruit.

“Anything else?” Q asked picking up his toast again.

“Quite a lot actually.” Mycroft answered putting his spoon down. “I tried to look into this Nine-eyes program that is about to be introduced but found nothing. Our hackers have been unable to infiltrate the computers it was on. We needed someone from the inside but we didn’t have agents that had the necessary skills that were free of scrutiny.”

“So, you activated Jordan.” Q concluded.

“We did. He passed the evaluation though his psychological tests have to be redone. Apparently, the psychiatrist was 20 minutes late and then had such poor social skills agent Bruskin couldn’t stop laughing him in the face.” Q snorted at that. It seemed Jordan had spent a little too much time with the double-0’s and picked up some bad habits from them.

“We decided to follow 0010’s recommendation to put him in the field anyway.” Mycroft continued. “On the strict condition that he, you and R would handle him and I would not be involved.” Q frowned.

“What does 0010 have against you?” He asked. Mycroft smiled a sad smile.

“The day I took over as Director after uncle Rudy died, I came into the office at 5. Arabella was already there and hard at work re-establishing the network. I never knew that I was meant to have an assistant. Rudy didn’t have one when I was training under him and I did most of the work that Arabella now does. That was for a reason. The last Assistant had quit. Arabella had been trained by the one who was supposed to be his successor. She had sworn never to work with Uncle Rudy either. It was only luck that I was given the benefit of the doubt. I searched for the last assistant Rudy had but failed to find him until the day before yesterday.”

“First name Andrew.” Q breathed in amazement. “The only information I could find on him. It all makes so much sense now. No wonder Mansfield could build up a file against uncle Rudy. Why she hated us all. He gave her the information she needed to build her case. I’m amazed that after all that Rudy had done, Andrew still had enough faith in the system to serve his country.”

“Arabella spoke with him briefly after he’d made himself known. He wants no contact at all with me and will refuse any mission I’m involved in. I’ve decided to abide by his wishes. It was an unfortunate coincidence that he was there yesterday.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t kidnap Jordan on his way home?” Q asked curiously.

“That was the original plan but then agent Bruskin called Arabella for information.” Q, who just had taken a mouthful of orange juice struggled to swallow before choking rather spectacularly on it. Once he was done coughing up his lungs he glared at his older brother, who was trying very hard not to smirk.

“You did that on purpose.” Q accused him trying very hard to sound serious.

“The opportunity presented itself, I simply did not resist.” Mycroft answered with twinkling eyes. Q laughed until he realized that Mycroft hadn’t been lying.

“Wait. Jordan actually called her?” Q asked to clarify. “Did he know he wasn’t supposed to?”

“0010 told him and he replied that Arabella hadn’t forbidden it therefor it was an option.” Mycroft replied. Q laughed again.

“Oh, he’s going to be trouble when he settles as a field agent. He’s spent way too much time with the double-0’s” He answered, amused. “What information did he need?”

“He, 0010 and R wanted to know what was going on with the merger so as to judge whether _your_ actions with the server were appropriate.” Mycroft’s tone was very disapproving. As if he was disgusted by the mere thought of someone passing judgement on him. Q didn’t sigh out loud, not wanting to get into this discussion again. Maybe this would be another one of the many things they agreed to disagree on.

“You haven’t given them the information I take it.” He asked to confirm his suspicion.

“Certainly not for that reason, no.” Mycroft sniffed, but the way he said it made Q think.

“But you did brief them for Jordan’s mission.” He concluded, not quite keeping the gratitude out of his voice. Because that briefing would have contained the information they had requested. “How did R respond?”

“She asked if Arabella could vet the new people on the server according to your standard, ordered the bug removed and then gathered your new hackers and ordered them to monitor anyone blacklisted and to unobtrusively make sure none of the computers were working for them. They’ve already worked out a schedule between them. Then Arabella sent her home saying that as a board member of the Holmes Family Investment Firm she had the ability to do the job for a few days. She was working too hard again according to agent Bruskin. Arabella said R was relieved to have some rest and that you knew where to find her if she was needed.” Mycroft concluded his report. Q sighed. Things hadn’t settled down at all in his absence. But he was glad Mycroft had been able to make sure everything was running as smoothly as it could.

“It sounds like I have a lot of work to do.” Q said as he stood.

“Yes, starting with 007. He’s meeting you this afternoon. R had the chop shop guys, as she called them, vulgar name, set up shop for you in the former MI6 building. The only thing you still need to set up is the smart blood.” Q grimaced but gave no further comment. Mycroft however wasn’t done.

“Brief him and Mr. Tanner on our current situation and find out how he got his information on Marco Sciarra. There’s a lot of activity, not just here but globally and there are indications that these things are connected. There’s someone working very hard behind the scenes to make these things happen and I want to know who. I doubt 007 will stay put so he might as well make himself useful.” Mycroft ordered.

“Understood.” Q said and walked out of the kitchen. ‘Once more onto the breach, dear friends.’ He thought as he prepared himself for yet another busy day.


	21. A proper send-off

‘How could everything go to shit so fast?’ James asked himself as he sighed. He was tired. Felt more exhausted than he’d ever had. Mexico City had been a disaster. He really only meant to eliminate Sciarra silently but he couldn’t let that bomb reach the stadium. And now he’d returned to London, there seemed to be a crisis here as well. It was only in M’s office that he’d heard that the merger with MI5, the one that had been off the table after Q became quartermaster, was pushed through. M was in a right shit and the new C, cunt that he was, made his trigger finger twitch for some reason. His suspension had been extended indefinitely and though he had expected it, it still hurt more than he thought it would have. He knew now what Q had felt after the hearing. But like Q he wouldn’t let it stop him from doing what he needed to do.

He followed Tanner onto the roof of the old MI6 building. Like the parliament building, it was a great place to appreciate London. It was a shame that it was about to be brought down. He had so many memories, good, bad and horrible, associated with it. He would’ve liked to look at it sometimes once he was permanently back in London, if he were to survive this crisis that is.

Tanner had started talking about all that happened, telling him about the demolition, pointing out the New Centre for National Security.

“So that’s C’s new digs.” He commented.

“You’ve met him, have you?” Tanner asked before commenting. “M won’t let me near him, takes all of the meetings himself.”

“Yesterday.” He answered absentmindedly, settling into an information gathering mode trying to slot everything into the rather incomplete picture he had. “What do we know about him?”

“Officially he’s a small-time politician with big friends. He wrote a dossier last year on how the double-0 program was obsolete, how drones could do all our dirty work abroad. His record is clean as a whistle.” Tanner answered.

“And unofficially.” He asked.

“The reactions have been mixed. The government sees this as a great way to save money. M is sceptical but under great pressure to get with the program and can only do so much. He tried to gain information from the Director but that didn’t pan out.” Tanner answered.

“Yes, he did seem a bit stressed yesterday.” He commented.

“The best indication that things are going to shit has been from Q.” Ah, Q, now that was information he could do something with. “Ever since he was relieved of his title, he’s been making contingency plans. R thought he was just being paranoid and nothing would come of it until he implemented one Friday night. Now keep in mind the official announcement is still being drawn up and the intelligence agencies have only been briefed of the changes on Monday.” That came as less of a shock to James than Tanner might have thought. He knew Q was very high up in the ranks in the Director’s organization. So high, that the Assistant called him Sir and not just to placate or scoff him.

“What did Q do?” He asked.

“He privatized Q-branch.” James blinked.

“He what?” He asked, making sure he heard right.

“He privatised it.” Tanner said. “He started the foundations the week after the hearing. Sold it as a new cover story for Q-branch employees. Q-branch is now a new department of Radius Solutions Company’s, part of Bamford Security Solutions. How Q arranged this isn’t known.” Ah and there was the lie. This was why James trusted Tanner, he simply couldn’t lie and was a great source of information because of it. “M and R approved of the new cover. Q had people coming and going outside of their shifts to have them get used to the facilities and to make it look used and when the emergency came all that still needed doing was to sign the papers. On Sunday Morning Q-branch was empty.”

“Do you know what Q has on him.” He asked just to be sure Tanner wasn’t holding anything back.

“No.” He said.

“But you will.” He heard behind him. He turned and saw Q walk up to them. “The Director has ordered that I read you in.” He handed over a file to Tanner who opened it and held it open so they could both look at it while Q talked. “What we have on him is small and circumstantial but alarming enough.” The file contained pictures of Denbigh. Pictures that made no sense. They started weird, Denbigh’s mugshots and him standing trial in a criminal court, and went on to be downright bizarre. There was one of him wearing the Crown Jewels and Autopsy picture with the back of his head blown out. He looked up at Q in confusion, what the hell was this?

“What the hell, Q?” Tanner asked.

“That was James Moriarty.” Q said and Tanner gasped.

“The one from the blog?” He asked.

“Yes, and before you ask, yes he was.” Q answered some not yet thought up question if he read Tanner’s look right. Q obviously knew how bad Tanner was at keeping secrets. He was surprised Q had shared something with Tanner that he didn’t want to be common knowledge.

“I read the blog. I know the basics. John told me the rest. Tell me what I don’t know.” James said settling into a more active pre-mission mode, no longer hiding behind a disinterested mask.

“Holmes was murdered. There were three snipers on his three closest friends. If he didn’t jump his friends would die. Then Moriarty killed himself to make sure he couldn’t call them off. Holmes jumped. Since then, we’ve had someone dismantling the network the spider controlled. Only a few men remain.” Q answered. James nodded while Tanner gaped.

“And his connection to C?”

“C?” Q asked.

“Well, he’s got to have a codename, doesn’t he? And he’s a bit of a cunt.” James answered drily. Q laughed a bit before he could contain himself and answer.

“There’s no known connection. Moriarty has used body doubles before but we think the body in those pictures is the real Moriarty. We would have been met with more resistance while cleaning up the network if he was still alive. But his family history is largely undocumented so the link could be there. There are other indications that there’s at least a connection. The last people known to be part of Moriarty’s network are currently in London. Some wording used by Denbigh in conversations with M also rings bells. But nothing substantial enough to use against him. Not that we expect it yet. Moriarty was a genius and a psychopath. We’re treating Denbigh along the same length.” James nodded.

“However,” Q continued. “We do not believe Denbigh is the one ultimately in charge of this. A global playboard has been set and the pieces are moving. There have been two terror attacks in the last few days, a train bombing in Hamburg and an industrial explosion in Tunisia, that are playing right into Denbigh’s hands. We need to find out who is behind this.” That… sounded suspiciously like a mission.

“I thought I was supposed to be grounded.” He asked lightly. Q gave him a look.

“We both know you’re not done with whatever you set out to do.” He simply said and James knew he was screwed. Q was perfectly within his right to detain him. “Might as well make sure you’re doing something useful. But Bond, this is unsanctioned at the moment. If this pans out, we will probably both be reinstated but if it doesn’t and someone does decide to take action, there’s officially very little I can do.” James nodded, hearing what was and wasn’t being said. The exhaustion seemed to lift a little knowing Q was on his side. Because he knew that Q was a powerhouse, officially and unofficially.

“Now, I’ve shared my news, now you get to share yours. Who sent you after Sciarra?” The sudden change startled Tanner but James didn’t even feel the slightest of hesitations to share his data.

“M” He answered. “DVD sent to my house a few days after she died.”

“Message from beyond the grave.” Q mumbled. “Anything else?”

“Not to miss the funeral.” He answered. “It’s in Rome, in two days.”

“Ah, that’s quick. We’ll see what we can do. Follow me please.” Q said as if it were that easy to covertly outfit a grounded agent without drawing suspicion and walked into the building. James actually smiled and followed. Time to get to work.


	22. Back into the fold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,
> 
> Updates will be a bit slower from now on as I have a new job (hurray). Still, I hope to post an update once a week. It all depends on how cooperative the story wants to be. 
> 
> A lot of inspiration for the first part of this chapter is taken from The channel 4 program SAS: Who Dares Wins and the BBC show: Royal Marines Commando School.

Mathew Hale parked his jeep in the muddy field that they were calling the parking lot outside of the base in Wales where they were performing the Special Forces selection course. He sighed, both happy to be here and dreading the work that was ahead of him. He was tired. He had been woken around 2 in the morning with orders to get himself to London to perform an evaluation. It was now 10 in the evening and he was just in time for today’s debrief.

He had missed the Fandance, the great exercise which had the recruits going up and over the Pen-y-Fan, the highest peak in South Wales, a couple of times. He wondered how many had given up and handed in their numbers and who had performed well. Out of the 213 soldiers that had started selection this year, 137 had already handed in their numbers and they all had their favourites among the remaining recruits.

He got out of his car and walked towards the office. He saw a couple of the contestants still loitering around the outhouses, washing up as good they could with the cold water tap that was at their disposal. They should be sleeping already, getting as many hours as they could before they would be woken for the next beasting.

“Holly!” He heard as he walked into the office.

“Hey.” He greeted them as he threw himself into a chair. He really hated his nickname. He had gotten it during foundations at the commando training centre for the Royal Marines at Lympstone. He been bragging about going home for the weekend after he had passed the inspection while the others had failed. He still wondered why he had ever told anyone that he liked to watch Holly Oaks with his then girlfriend.

“I wasn’t expecting you back yet.” Lucas ‘Bucky’ Buchanan commented.

“Everything got moved up. Don’t know why and I don’t care, I’m just glad to be back early. Still feel shit about missing the fandance though. How many did we lose?” He asked.

“About 30. Still waiting for the final numbers from the doc. There were some injuries.” Bucky said.

“Yeah, we got a bit of a surprise this morning. They found a replacement for our bandage boy.” Bastian ‘Pan’ Panagopoulous added. Holly was surprised. None of them liked their current medic much, he was a bit of a whiner, and they had requested another one repeatedly. All of them had been denied because all of the medics with the right clearance to be here had been deployed.

“Finally. I was a hairsbreadth away from offing the guy. Where have they dug this one up then?” He asked.

“London.” Palmer ‘Finney’ Finn answered with a glint in his eyes and a smile. “Apparently his commission got reactivated yesterday and he just showed up this morning.”

“And he’s not some old fart?” Holly asked, thinking of the chance some old veteran, thinking they still had it, would be send here for them to chew on and spit out. The others burst out into laughter.

“Hell no, good one though.” Bucky said still chuckling.

“And he has the clearance to be here?” Holly asked incredulously. Finney’s smile just got wider.

“Oh, definitely.” He answered his voice full of conviction, like he was sharing something epic.

As if on que the door behind them opened and two men entered the dimly lit room still talking amicably to one another. First, the lanky stick form of bandage boy with behind him a short stocky bloke with a very familiar voice.

“No way.” Holly breathed.

“Evening everyone. Hey Holly, how are the saplings growing?” The greeting confirmed it. TC was here, in the flesh. Holly was out of his chair and grabbed his friend in a big hug.

“TC! God mate, it’s good to see you! What the fuck are you doing here?” He thought TC had moved on from their world. Got himself a gig in London with a detective of some sorts. He’d heard from some of the other blokes that TC was writing a blog that was quite popular but he wasn’t much of a reader.

“I heard you were looking for a new medic so I thought it would be fun.” TC answered jokingly but his voice was tight. There seemed to be a lot going on there but it was obvious that TC didn’t want to share.

"Good you’re here mate.” He said giving his friend a break. “And just in time for the Fandance too.”

“Yeah, that was fun.” TC grinned and then sat at the table and started the debrief.

“Well, hate to say this, lads, but number 184 is done.” The whole room groaned.

“Damn it, I liked that guy.” Pan grouched.

“Oh well, at least we don’t have to worry about 25 anymore. He quit today.” Finney added. TC laughed along with the others but there was something about the way he did that just seemed… hollow. Like there was but a shell of the man he knew sitting there. It worried Holly but he knew TC would come find him if he wanted to talk. Reuniting with his old team hopefully would do the man some good. But he vouched himself to keep an eye on his friend because obviously something was wrong.

* * *

Bill had a lot to ponder about since meeting Q that morning. The thought of someone who looked like Sherlock Holmes's greatest nemesis infiltrating the government was a scary thought to him. He imagined to Q, who lost a family member to Moriarty, the thought would be unbearable. No wonder Q had distanced Q-branch from MI6. Bill felt incredibly grateful now for the way he protected Kimberley. He did feel a bit for Bond though. The agent was still giving his everything for Queen and country, even if he would get nothing out of it except persecution.

The phone ringing snapped Bill out of his thoughts.

“Yes?” He answered.

“This is the visitors desk, Sir, sorry to bother you. There is a Jordan Bruskin here. Claims he used to work in Q-branch. He doesn't have an appointment but is wants to see M. He says it's urgent.” Jordan Bruskin? Wat would he be doing here? Q hadn't given any indication this morning that there was a problem.

“I'll come and collect him.” He answered and headed down. M was currently talking with C again and wasn’t supposed to be disturbed. But if this truly was Bruskin and he had something important to tell Bill would make sure he would get that meeting.

It was indeed Jordan Bruskin who was waiting for him. The man was fidgeting nervously but looked relieved when he spotted him.

“Mr. Bruskin, what is going on?” He asked. Bruskin looked around them skittishly.

“Can we take this up to your office, Sir?” He asked.

“Sure, follow me.” He motioned the security guard away and bypassed the metal detector meant for untrusted visitors. Bruskin looked around him while they walked through the halls.

“It’s so quiet in here.” He commented. And it was. Ever since the departure of Q-branch the rest of the staff had all been quiet and tense. It felt like a storm was brewing and everyone was ready to batten down the hatches at a moment’s notice.

As they entered the office and Bill closed the door behind him something strange happened to Bruskin. His posture changed. He relaxed and straightened, the nervousness melting away as if it had never been there. It put Bill on guard. He had seen these switches happen in double-0 agents that came down from missions, when they were home but still at their most dangerous. He now cursed himself for letting Bruskin bypass the metal detector. If he had a gun and wanted to do harm, Bill would be dead right now.

Then Bruskin turned towards him and held out his hand. Bill was momentarily confused as to why the man was offering him candy but then smacked himself mentally and accepted the elegant Pez-dispenser. Kim always showed him all her successes, so he always knew what toys were handed out. The enthusiasm that always had her bouncing off the walls when things were coming together was one of her most endearing qualities. 

He opened the dispenser and popped one of the earpieces in his ear.

“This is Tanner.” He said.

“Good Afternoon, Tanner. This is 0010. I’m guiding our newly minted agent A53 here on his first official solo mission. He is to infiltrate the IT-department of the Joint Security Service in order to retrieve information on Nine-eyes.” The smooth professional voice of the agent was a relief. This was official. He relaxed and walked over to his seat and gestured _agent_ Bruskin to the other.

“And how long have we had a trained agent in our IT department?” He wondered out loud.

“A couple of months now.” Bruskin himself answered. “All I can tell you is that 007 needed me for a mission, M approved as long as I passed basic field training. And I did.”

“001 trained him up in a week and then we kept training him. He just passed the final evaluation yesterday.”0010 added with a certain amount of pride and possessiveness in his voice. Bruskin ducked his head minutely as if shy. ‘Oh dear’ Bill thought amused, ‘it seems Agent Bruskin got himself adopted by a bunch of possessive assassins.’

“And how does Q feel about this.” He asked 0010 amused.

“Well so far he’s holding the peace but I feel he might put up a fight if we were to truly tempt him away from Q-branch.” 0010 replied just as amused.

“Only if Jordan decides he wants to stay.” Q joined in the conversation letting the same possessiveness colour his voice as 0010’s had earlier along with a fair share of his own amusement. “But until then we’re going to show him what both sides have to offer.” Bruskin groaned and buried his face in his hands. Bill could understand it. It was customary to throw a lot at new agents at once to see how they handled stress. But, while a lot of agents drowned and were consequently let go, Bruskin seemed to be able to keep his head above water. Not a small feat if Q was also throwing things at him. “But enough about that. We have work to do. M is currently having a meeting with C and it’s a good time to get Jordan a new job. Tanner if you could inform M that Jordan is here with important information, we can get the ball rolling.” Q said, bringing them all back on track. Tanner was almost inclined to answer with ‘Yes, Sir.’ at the command but stopped himself and stayed silent as he reached for his phone.


	23. First day on the job

“Hello. I’m Jordan Bruskin. I’m starting work in your IT department today.”

“Wonderful. Let me be the first to welcome you to the Joint Security Services. Have a seat. I’ll call to the department to have someone come escort you up.”

“Thank you.” He heard Jordan reply over the headset.

Andrew sat back in his chair in the IT-department. This assignment was starting to become interesting. At first, he had been sceptical, and bit insulted really, thinking he would just be boringly observing a bunch of boffins do their jobs. But he had been busy straight from the get go. First with the hackers and then the mess with the Director who, unlike that bastard Rudy, seemed to keep his word. But guiding Jordan through this mission seemed to the perfect way to relax and still do something interesting.

He always had had the problem of being bored quickly. It was why he spent so much time in the gym on his down time. That he had met Jordan on his first day back had been a bit of a blessing. It was fun training someone again. He hadn’t done that since he had trained his successor, who had done a good job at training his own successor, even though he had never gotten any experience as the Assistant. Arabella was efficient, especially with that mobile phone of hers. In his day people had walked in and out of his office with notes and spoken messages and his phone was ringing constantly with people reporting in. It made him inflexible because he couldn’t receive those messages outside of the office and couldn’t do his guard duties while stuck behind the desk. He wished he’d had one of those phones back in the days.

He shook himself deliberately focussing on the screen in front of him where Jordan’s necktie camera was showing him looking around the ground floor of the joint security services new building. The building looked as sleek and pretentious as the prick running it, with its expensive furnishings and logo carefully embossed into the floor.

The plan had worked. C had practically been salivating at the thought of having one of the original minions on his team and hired Jordan on the spot, telling him to report the next day. Jordan had played things up nicely, telling M and C with great worry that Q was back in Q branch and was once again ruling the IT department. When C made an issue of it, M said they were an independent contractor now and could hire whomever they wanted and he was saving tonnes of money just like he’d been ordered to do. Jordan had then told them he had refused to work with someone who had been fired by the oversight commission and when R hadn’t seen things his way had quit. It had all come off as quite believable and Andrew was quite impressed with Jordan’s acting ability. He wondered where he had picked that up. Whomever trained him in undercover ops had been good.

“Mr. Bruskin?” Jordan turned and Andrew saw a man approach Jordan.

“Mr. Talbot sir.” He heard Jordan answer in genuine surprise. Then came a change that put Andrew on alert “I didn’t know you were working here?” The question was asked in the same faked friendly voice Jordan had used to suck up to that stupid cow Pasco during the hacker interviews. It was just slightly too sugary, but only someone who knew Jordan would notice. But Andrew had spent too many hours handing Jordan his ass for him not to know the agent well.

“Q, who is this Talbot guy?” He called out over his shoulder. Q came over from where he had been helping one of his new hackers break a computer in some ingenious way. Q himself was quite a refreshing change from the normal people that were normally occupying MI6. They were good people, smart people off course. But there was smart and then there was genius. And Andrew knew genius when he saw it. He had worked for one for a long time after all, even if he had been an evil bastard. But Q appeared to be a warm caring person at first glance and was adored by the other nerds on a level that was scary. The man in question looked at the screen and for a moment fury flashed over his face before it was suppressed so fast you wouldn’t have noticed it if you had blinked.

“That is, unless I’m very much mistaken, our mole.” Q’s voice held a steely edge, the only indication left of the anger that Q obviously still felt. Andrew raised a questioning eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

“R and I used to run Q-branch together until it became apparent that the situation became unmanageable and we were forced to hire people quickly. Neil Talbot transferred from the Yard at the same time as George Sadler came over from MI5. After a few weeks it was discovered by a couple of my employees that there was a mole active in the branch, trying to look for information on the server. They alerted us but our attempts to apprehend him were detected. The bastard then arranged for the family of one of my people to be kidnapped and made her take the fall for him and had the person who found the evidence of his activity on the server beaten up on his way home. Shortly after Talbot was let go because he was not gelling in the department and the mole went quiet, I guess we now know why.” The explanation was clear and professional but Andrew could hear the emotions underneath. The fierce protectiveness Q felt towards his people. As soon as Q finished his explanation he turned.

“Iris, I want a full report of all activity of Mr. Talbot during the time he was with us. His actions on the server, people he talked to, places he spent his time and anything else of interest. Use as many people you need. I need it done thoroughly and I need it done yesterday.” The woman who had been clearly been listening in since he had called Q over looked about as furious as Q had been but did nothing to hide it. Her eyes narrowed as was given an activity to pour her anger into.

“Yes, sir. Permission to get Anita from personnel to come in on her downtime. She’s terrifyingly efficient at organizing large amounts of data. We worked together to set up the new database-system and she whipped her colleagues into shape for us.” She asked

“Granted, make sure she knows to keep things confidential. Come to me with anything else you need.” Q answered immediately.

“Yes, sir.” Iris answered and got to work. Q then fished his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial. He started talking as soon as the call was answered.

“Neil Talbot was our mole. I want everything you have on him. And everything you can find.” And then hung up without waiting for a reply.

The efficiency Q displayed getting everything organized was scary. It reminded him of how Rudy used to order people around. A shiver ran down his spine one that made him shudder slightly and immediately Q’s eyes snapped to him. Eyes that held an intensity that took his breath away with how they reminded him of Rudy. Then the eyes softened.

“I’ll let you get back to your mission.” The tone was professional as it always was but edged with something that took Andrew a while to identify. Regret.


End file.
